THE    FOUNTAIN    OF    E  G  E  R  I  A. 


OR, 


VOICES  OF  THOUGHT  AND  COUNSEL, 


THE  WOODS  AND  WAYSIDE. 


BY 


W.  GILMORE  SIMMS,  ESQ., 

AUTHOR  OF   '•  KATHARINE  WALTON,"  ETC. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLISHED  BY  E.  H.  BUTLER  &  CO. 
1853. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1853, 
BY   E.    H.    BUTLER   &    CO. 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Eastern  District  of 
Pennsylvania. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


THE  collection  which  follows  has  been  the  unpre 
meditated  accumulation  of  many  years.  It  consti 
tutes  a  body  of  sentiment  and  opinion,  which,  I 
trust,  will  commend  itself  to  other  minds,  and  be 
justified  in  the  thought,  feeling,  and  experience  of 
other  lives.  Some  of  it  may  have  been  derived 
from  a  very  excursive  reading ;  indeed,  it  is  scarcely 
possible  that  it  should  be  otherwise :  but  I  feel  very 
sure  that  the  greater  portion  of  it  has  grown  out  of 
a  purely  individual  experience,  from  patient  as  well 
as  passing  observation,  and  forms  the  conviction  of 
a  mind,  the  habits  and  training  of  which  have  been 
of  a  kind  always  to  nourish  a  proper  independence. 
Some  of  the  opinions  here  expressed  may  startle : 
there  is  no  good  reason,  however,  that  they  should 
offend.  You  and  I,  gentle  reader,  may  differ  in 

££95961 


xii  ADVERTISEMENT. 

many  of  our  notions ;  but  if  we  do  not  differ,  how 
shall  we  expect  to  satisfy  either  mind,  and  by  what 
process  should  we  discover  truth  ?  Let  our  differ 
ences  be  of  the  sort  only  which  music  justifies  and 
requires,  in  which  a  certain  amount  of  discord  is 
admitted  as  one  of  the  most  necessary  ingredients 
of  harmony. 

W.  G.  S. 


EGERIA. 


EGERIA. 

EGERIA  is  the  Muse  of  Counsel.  She  is  de 
scribed  as  the  mysterious  nymph  who  met  Numa 
Pompilius,  and  taught  him  how  to  govern.  She 
met  him  always  in  solitude,  and  Solitude  is  the 
nurse  of  Thought.  She  met  him  in  the  groves, 
which  are  places  favorable  to  meditation.  She  met 
him  at  twilight,  when  a  certain  calm  usually  over 
spreads  the  soul — the  passions  being  in  repose — 
and  when  the  mind  consciously  hovers,  as  it  were, 
between  the  two  worlds  of  Time  and  Eternity,  in 
some  degree  partaking  of  both.  Egeria  is  a  beau 
tiful  fancy  of  the  old  Tradition.  Thought  and 
Study  are  beguiled  to  the  solitude,  where  Wisdom 
puts  on  the  aspect  of  Love,  for  the  better  persuasion 
of  the  pupil.  Through  such  influences,  we  might 
naturally  expect  that  Counsel  should  be  at  once 
grateful  and  easy  of  attainment.  We  should,  each 


14  EGERIA. 

of  us  seek  for  an  Egeria ; — for  Numa,  though  a 
prince,  was  thus  honored,  only  because  of  his  attri 
butes  as  a  man ! 

AUTHORITY. 

The  Cumcean  Sibyl,  who  came  to  Tullus  Hosti- 
lius,  bringing  him  books  for  sale — nine  at  first,  and 
afterwards  reduced  to  three — was  probably  the 
same  person  with  the  Egeria  of  Numa  Pompilius. 
She  assumed  another  character  and  a  different  de 
portment,  when  dealing  with  a  different  person. 
With  the  gentle  and  modest  Numa,  she  was  a 
friend  and  counsellor ;  but  the  haughty  pride  of 
Tullus  needed  an  authority,  rather  than  an  adviser. 
To  the  one  she  spoke  as  a  companion ;  to  the  other, 
she  brought  a  book  of  written  laws.  He  is  un 
doubtedly  the  wisest  person  who  submits  to  and 
receives  counsel,  but  the  greater  portion  of  man 
kind  are  not  so  easily  taught.  To  counsel  or  ad 
vise  with  them,  is  really  to  provoke  self-esteem  to 
disputation.  You  must  put  on  the  aspect  of  an 
oracle ;  never,  like  Isis,  permit  your  features  to  be 
unveiled — and,  speaking  only  without  suffering  an 
answer,  your  authority  shall  pass  without  a  ques 
tion. 


EG  EH  i  A.  15 


APOTHEGMS. 

The  apothegm  is  the  most  portable  form  of 
Truth.  It  is  fortunate  for  the  teacher  that  she  is 
so  ductile  in  her  forms,  in  spite  of  the  inflexibility 
of  her  essentials.  It  is  thus  that  the  proverb  an 
swers  where  the  sermon  fails,  as  a  well-charged 
pistol  will  do  more  execution  than  a  whole  barrel  of 
gunpowder  idly  expended  in  the  air. 

MORALS. 

The  moral  of  the  steed  is  in  the  spur  of  his  rider ; 
of  the  slave,  in  the  eye  of  his  master ;  of  the  wo 
man,  in  the  sense  of  her  weakness  and  dependence. 

CONSERVATISM. 

With  the  weak  and  vulgar  mind,  Conservatism 
implies  nothing  more  than  to  keep  things  as  they 
are,  no  matter  how  wanting  in  propriety  and  sus 
ceptible  of  improvement; — a  condition  agreeable 
only  to  the  timid,  and  to  those  in  power.  But  this 
sort  of  conservatism  is,  in  fact,  destructiveness, — 
and  has  been  probably  the  true  but  secret  cause  of 
the  overthrow  of  societies  and  commonwealths. 
The  true  law  of  the  race  is  progress  and  develop- 


16  EGERIA. 

ment.  Whenever  civilization  pauses  in  the  march 
of  conquest,  it  is  overthrown  by  the  barbarian. 
The  people  that  cease  to  advance,  in  the  notion 
that  their  mission  is  ended,  and  their  development 
complete,  from  that  moment  begin  to  decline,  and 
must  go  rapidly  to  decay.  The  conservatism  which 
hopes  to  retard  a  legitimate  progress,  will  inevita 
bly  be  crushed  in  its  march.  All  such  efforts  may 
be  likened  to  that  of  the  feeble  old  man  who  at 
tempts  to  arrest  the  speed  of  the  locomotive,  by 
thrusting  his  gold-headed  crutch  between  its  wheels. 
True  Conservatism  is  rather  the  bold  spirit  which 
leaps  into  the  car  of  progress,  and,  seizing  upon 
the  reins,  directs  its  movements  with  a  firm  hand, 
and  an  eye  that  sees  the  proper  goal  for  which  the 
race  should  aim. 

PATRIOTISM. 

He  who  labors  for  mankind,  without  a  care  for 
himself,  has  already  begun  his  immortality. 

VANITY  AND  SELF-ESTEEM. 

We  are  quite  too  apt  to  confound  Vanity  with 
Self-Esteem.  The  former  is  always  a  weakness, 
though  sometimes  an  amiable  one.  The  latter  is 


EGERIA.  17 

frequently  significant  of  strength,  though  its  exhi 
bition  is  quite  too  often  at  the  expense  of  its  neigh 
bors.  Vanity  may  be  likened  to  the  smooth-skin 
ned  and  velvet-footed  mouse,  nibbling  about  for  ever 
in  expectation  of  a  crumb ;  while  Self-Esteem  is  too 
apt  to  take  the  likeness  of  the  huge  butcher's  dog, 
who  carries  off  your  steaks,  and  growls  at  you  as 
he  goes. 

SECRETS. 

It  is  said  that  he  or  she  who  admits  the  posses 
sion  of  a  secret,  has  already  half  revealed  it.  Cer 
tainly,  it  is  a  great  deal  gained  towards  the  acqui 
sition  of  a  treasure,  to  know  exactly  where  it  lies. 
Curiosity  needs  a  clue  only  to  begin  the  search. 
The  misfortune  is,  that  the  key  which  cannot  open 
the  lock,  may  yet  suffice  to  spoil  it.  It  is  seldom, 
indeed,  that  a  secret  is  stolen  without  impairing  its 
integrity. 

MARRIAGE  SECRETS. 

The  Romans  designated  false  keys,  along  with 

drunkenness  and  adultery,  as  a  sufficient  cause  of 

divorce.     This  surely  speaks  for  a  lower  degree  of 

delicacy  and  virtue  in  the  marriage  state  of  Rome, 

2* 


18  EGERIA. 

in  the  days  of  Plutarch,  than  anywhere  exists 
among  the  moderns ;  since  the  existence  of  the  law 
implies  the  frequency  of  the  offence.  A  secret  of 
either  of  the  parties  in  the  marriage  state,  should, 
indeed,  as  a  matter  of  mutual  policy,  be  among  the 
most  sacred  of  all  kinds  of  secrets.  This  is  essen 
tial  to  the  confidence  which  every  day  requires 
that  new  secrets  should  be  yielded  to  their  mutual 
keeping. 

CENSURE. 

The  vulgar  mind  fancies  that  judgment  is  im 
plied  chiefly  in  the  capacity  to  censure ;  and  yet 
there  is  no  judgment  so  exquisite  as  that  which 
knows  properly  how  to  approve. 

MOTIVES  OF  CENSURE. 

We  as  frequently  censure  through  evil  passions, 
through  envy,  prejudice,  and  presumption,  as  be 
cause  of  any  undesert  in  the  subject.  Vanity  is  so 
constantly  solicitous  of  self,  that,  even  where  its 
own  claims  are  not  interested,  it  indirectly  seeks 
the  aliment  which  it  loves,  by  showing  how  little  is 
deserved  by  others. 


EGERIA.  19 

* 

CRITICISM. 

Neither  praise  nor  blame  is  the  object  of  true 
criticism.  Justly  to  discriminate,  firmly  to  esta 
blish,  wisely  to  prescribe,  and  honestly  to  award — 
these  are  the  true  aims  and  duties  of  criticism. 

WEALTH. 

Our  possessions  are  wholly  in  our  performances. 
He  owns  nothing  to  whom  the  world  owes  nothing. 

ACQUISITION. 

Our  true  acquisitions  lie  only  in  our  charities. 
We  gain  only  as  we  give.  There  is  no  beggar  so 
destitute  as  he  who  can  afford  nothing  to  his  neigh 
bor. 

POSITION. 

When,  in  our  government  phrase,  we  declare  all 
men  to  be  equal,  nothing  more  is  meant  than  that 
all  have  an  equal  claim  on  the  protection  of  govern 
ment — the  great  object  for  which  government  is 
conceived  at  all.  To  do  justice  in  society  to  all 
persons,  is  not  to  elevate  our  friends,  Smith,  Jones, 
and  Jenkins,  to  the  throne  of  the  Caesars,  or  to  the 
Presidency  of  the  States,  but  to  check  the  Caesars 


20  EGERIA. 

and  the  Presidents  from  thrusting  Smith,  Jones, 
and  Jenkins  from  the  security  of  the  workbench. 
A  proper  justice  among  men  requires  that  we 
should  properly  individualize  their  pretensions. 
The  man  who  can  work  in  marble  better  than  any 
body  else,  must  be  made  secure  in  the  occupation 
in  which  he  is  so  successful.  It  would  be  a  great 
wrong  to  him,  even  if  his  own  vanity  should  have 
such  cravings,  to  allow  that  he  should  leave  his 
quarry  for  the  forum — incurring  the  risk  of  trans 
forming  a  good  stonecutter  into  a  bad  orator. 
Equally  great  were  the  wrong  to  the  individual,  as 
well  as  to  society,  if  we  were  to  suffer  the  man  who 
wrought  wonderfully  with  mallet  and  chisel,  to 
write  villainously  with  a  goose-quill.  The  only 
correct  idea  of  social  liberty  is,  that  each  person 
should  be  suffered  to  occupy  his  proper  place,  ac 
cording  to  his  natural  capacities. 

FREEDOM,  SLAVERY,  TYRANNY. 

He  is  a  freeman,  whose  social  condition  is  in  no 
respect  inferior  to  the  claims  of  his  moral  and  his 
intellect.  He  is  no  slave,  no  matter  what  his  con 
dition,  when  that  condition  continues  to  improve  in 
intellectual  and  moral  respects.  He,  alone,  is  the 


EGERIA.  21 

slave,  who  is  denied  the  position  which  is  essential 
to  the  exercise  of  his  proper  faculties,  and  the  fit 
development  of  his  natural  powers.  He  cannot  but 
be  a  tyrant,  whom  society  has  lifted  into  a  condi 
tion  superior  to  his  capacities. 

DISTINCTION. 

Our  distinctions  do  not  lie  in  the  places  which 
we  occupy,  but  in  the  grace  and  dignity  with  which 
we  fill  them.  It  is  to  the  few  alone  that  place  ac 
cords  distinction.  Position,  in  the  world's  eye,  is 
a  pillory,  rather  than  a  throne,  to  the  thousands 
who  scramble  for  its  attainment;  and  there  is  a 
native  baseness  in  the  ambition  which  seeks  beyond 
its  desert,  that  never  shows  more  conspicuously 
than  when,  no  matter  how,  it  temporarily  gains  its 
object.  The  snake  may  reach  the  eminence  as  cer 
tainly  as  the  eagle,  but  he  reaches  it  by  crawling, 
and  he  still  remains  a  snake. 

OBLIGATION. 

To  feel  oppressed  by  obligation,  is  only  to  prove 
that  we  are  incapable  of  a  proper  sentiment  of 
gratitude.  To  receive  favors  from  the  unworthy, 
is  simply  to  admit  that  our  selfishness  is  superior 


22  EGERIA. 

to  our  pride.  Most  men  remember  obligations,  but 
not  often  to  be  grateful  for  them.  The  proud  are 
made  sour  by  the  remembrance,  and  the  vain  silent. 

TACT. 

Tact  is  one  of  the  first  of  mental  virtues,  the 
absence  of  which  is  frequently  fatal  to  the  best  of 
talents.  Without  denying  that  it  is  a  talent  of 
itself,  it  will  suffice  if  we  admit  that  it  supplies  the 
place  of  many  talents.  It  is  chiefly  discoverable 
in  society,  by  the  facility  with  which  it  ascertains 
in  which  of  your  toes  the  gout  has  taken  lodgment, 
and  in  the  felicity  with  which  it  avoids  trespassing 
upon  the  suffering  member.  We  cannot  withhold 
our  affection  from  one  who  not  only  forbears  our 
failings,  but  never  suffers  us  to  suppose  that  he  sus 
pects  their  existence. 

SONG. 

It  is  a  bird-flight  of  the  soul,  when  the  heart  de 
clares  itself  in  song.  The  affections  that  clothe 
themselves  with  wings,  are  passions  that  have  been 
subdued  to  virtues. 

BENEFACTION. 
The  highest  glory  of  manhood  is  when  it  stands 


EGERIA.  23 

irx  the  attitude  of  the  benefactor.  It  is  in  this  atti 
tude  that  it  most  resembles  the  Deity,  in  whose 
image,  we  are  told,  that  man  was  originally  made. 
It  is  in  this  attitude  that  it  most  strikingly  exhibits 
its  own  sense  of  gratitude  to  God  for  His  benefac 
tions. 

AIMS  OF  LIFE. 

He  is  most  secure  of  life  who  lives  for  his  fellow. 
One  lives  through  all  periods,  who  has  in  all  periods 
lived  for  his  race.  We  must  see  humanity  through 
our  ambition  always,  if  we  would  make  and  per 
petuate  that  life  which  consists  in  an  undying  repu 
tation. 

CHANCE. 

There  is,  no  doubt,  such  a  thing  as  Chance,  but 
I  see  no  reason  why  Providence  should  not  make 
use  of  it. 

PURPOSELESS  THOUGHT. 

To  think  without  a  purpose,  is  to  baffle  the  will, 
which  is  equally  the  soul  of  purpose  and  performance. 
The  intellect  is  imbecile  in  execution,  whose  efforts 
are  objectless.  That  is  the  ablest  mind,  which  has 
acquired  the  habit  of  thinking  during  action. 


24  EGERIA. 

THE  AMIABLE.  "  * 

The  amiable  is  a  duty  most  certainly,  but  must 
not  be  exercised  at  the  expense  of  any  of  the  vir 
tues.  He  who  seeks  to  do  the  amiable  always,  can 
only  be  successful  at  the  frequent  expense  of  his 
manhood.  The  most  tolerant  nature  in  the  world 
should  always  discriminate  in  its  indulgence,  if  it 
would  not  countenance  insolence,  or  afford  a  sanc 
tion  to  the  offender.  Virtue  requires  that  we 
should  chasten,  quite  as  often  as  Humanity  en 
treats  us  to  forbear  ;  and  Authority  must  frequently 
use  the  scourge,  where  Affection  would  be  only  too 
happy  to  embrace. 

GOOD  SERVANTS. 

If  you  would  avoid  being  angry  with  your  ser 
vant,  wait  as  much  as  possible  upon  yourself. 

VIRTUES. 

Our  virtues  are  but  too  frequently  exercised  at 
the  expense  of  our  charities.  They  should  never 
be  allowed  to  lift  us  so  far  above  our  neighbors,  as 
to  make  us  lose  sight  of  their  sorrows  and  neces 
sities. 


EGERIA.  2f> 

AMBITION. 

He  who  would  acquire  fame,  must  not  show  him 
self  afraid  of  censure.  The  dread  of  censure  is  the 
death  of  genius.  He  who  falters,  in  apprehension 
of  the  opinion  of  his  neighbor,  has  already  put  him 
self  in  the  harness  of  a  master;  and  the  genius 
which  commands  the  keys  of  the  future,  is  always 
an  outlawry.  To  put  one's  wings  into  the  keeping 
of  another  who  has  no  wings,  is  certainly  to  have 
them  clipped  close  to  the  shoulders.  How  should 
he  approve  of  journeys  by  air,  with  the  eagle,  who 
has  always  pursued  his  own  way  along  the  earth 
with  the  snail  ?  That  audacity,  which  is  one  of  the 
essentials  of  genius,  has  always  laughed  at  what 
the  conventional  would  describe  as  decorum.  Ge 
nius  is  Discovery !  How  should  it  submit  the 
training  of  its  eyes  to  those  by  whom  no  discove 
ries  have  yet  been  made  ? 

INSECURITY  OF  VICE. 

The  bond  which  holds  the  iniquitous  together,  is 
one  perpetually  liable  to  rupture.  The  very  prin 
ciple  which  brings  the  parties  to  cooperate — that  of 
the  spoils — is  one  which  constantly  prompts  each  of 
them  to  make  prey  of  the  other. 
I 


26  EGERIA. 

REASON  AND  REVELATION. 

Revelation  may  not  need  the  help  of  reason,  but 
man  does,  even  when  in  possession  of  Revelation. 
Reason  may  be  described  as  the  candle  in  the 
man's  hand,  to  which  Revelation  brings  the  neces 
sary  flame. 

THE  POET. 

The  true  poet  is  he  who  finds  for  the  universal 
thought  and  feeling,  the  becoming  language.  He 
appeals,  with  an  instinct  peculiar  to  himself,  to  in 
stincts  which  are  common  to  the  race ;  and  endows, 
for  the  first  time,  with  the  power  of  expression,  the 
overburdened  and  struggling,  but  hitherto  dumb 
emotions.  He  finds  that  voice  for  the  heart  which 
not  only  unseals  its  fountains,  but  opens  the  way  to 
sympathies  which  have  their  fountains  also. 

WINGS. 

The  birth  of  a  child  is  the  imprisonment  of  a 
soul.  The  soul  must  work  its  way  out  of  prison, 
and,  in  doing  so,  provide  itself  with  wings  for  a 
future  journey.  It  is  for  each  of  us  to  determine 
whether  our  wings  shall  be  those  of  an  angel  or  a 
grub ! 


EGERIA.  27 

THE  RACE. 

The  soul  of  a  race  is  usually  embodied  in  its 
most  largely  appointed  minds.  The  individual 
greatness  which  we  see  evolved  from  the  ranks  of 
every  working  people — and  which  is  always  a  work 
ing  greatness — proves  conclusively  the  measure  of 
the  mind  and  moral,  the  virtue,  in  short,  which 
exists  in  the  race  at  large.  The  safety  of  a  people 
will  chiefly  depend  upon  the  ready  recognition 
which  they  yield  to  the  claims  of  their  most  nobly 
commissioned  representatives. 

PHILOSOPHY  AND  POETRY. 

Philosophy  is  reason  with  the  eyes  of  the  soul : 
poetry  is  philosophy  with  the  wings  of  the  spirit. 

SOCIAL  DESPOTISM. 

The  one  great  name,  however  worthy,  by  which 
the  whole  progress  of  a  people  is  dictated  or  di 
rected,  is  necessarily  a  despotism.  It  is  too  apt  to 
supersede  utterly  the  exercise  of  the  popular  intel 
lect,  and  is  thus  destructive  of  all  the  securities  of 
the  race.  The  great  names  of  a  country  quite  too 
frequently  degenerate  into  tyrannies,  and,  in  living 
upon  the  past,  an  aristocracy  lives  usually  for  the 


28  EGERIA. 

grievous  injury  of  the  present,  and  the  probable 
overthrow  of  a  people  in  the  future.  It  is  this  fact 
which  so  frequently  seems  to  render  revolution  ne 
cessary,  if  only  to  prevent  stagnation. 

SOLITUDE. 

Solitude  bears  the  same  relation  to  the  mind,  that 
sleep  does  to  the  body.  It  affords  it  the  necessary 
opportunities  for  repose  and  recovery.  In  the  re 
spite  thus  afforded  to  thought  by  solitude,  the  soul 
seems  to  retire  within  herself,  to  close  her  portals 
against  the  world,  shut  out  the  garish  lights  of  day, 
exclude  all  noisy  clamors  of  the  crowd,  and,  in  a 
temporary  withdrawal  from  the  strife,  so  to  recruit 
her  strength,  as  to  go  forth  to  a  renewal  of  the 
conflict,  with  new  strength  for  its  necessities,  and 
new  hopes  of  its  result. 

SIN. 

It  should  console  us  for  the  fact  that  sin  has  not 
totally  disappeared  from  the  world,  that  the  saints 
are  not  wholly  deprived  of  employment. 

SUN  AND  SHADOW. 

It  is  only  where  there  is  light  that  there  is  sha 
dow.  Were  there  no  cloud,  there  were  no  sun,  and 


EGERIA.  29 

we  should  never  see  a  rainbow.  Our  cares  are  the 
mothers,  not  only  of  our  charities  and  virtues,  but 
of  our  best  joys  and  most  cheering  and  enduring 
pleasures. 

HERESY. 

In  the  proper  exercise  of  the  affections,  we  are 
sure  to  lose  all  our  heresies.  Our  opinions  can 
have  no  sort  of  effect  in  defeating  our  virtues. 
How  my  neighbor  thinks,  is  scarcely  of  so  much 
importance  to  me  as  how  he  feels.  That  he  is  a 
heretic,  may  be  a  very  bad  thing ;  but  that  is  not 
properly  a  concern  of  mine,  so  long  as  his  faith 
never  affects  his  conduct.  I  see  no  heresy  in  the 
bunch  of  flowers  that  he  so  frequently  sends  for  my 
toilet;  and  the  green  peas  from  his  garden  are 
among  the  first  of  the  season. 

ANGEL  SPOTS. 

Believing,  as  I  do,  that  the  angels  are  still  fre 
quent  visiters  among  us,  I  find,  every  now  and  then, 
in  the  fresh  and  beautiful  appearance  of  certain 
spots  of  field  and  forest,  a  sufficient  reason  for  sup 
posing  these  to  be  the  favorite  places  upon  which 
they  prefer  to  alight.  If  the  violets  which  spring 

3* 


30  EGERIA. 

up  thick  in  my  path,  suddenly,  at  the  close  of  win 
ter,  do  not  denote  the  footstep  of  an  angel,  they 
certainly  declare  for  the  breath  of  one,  and  make 
me  fancy  his  presence. 

FRIENDLY  COUNSEL. 

Many  persons  fancy  themselves  friendly,  when 
they  are  only  officious.  They  counsel,  not  so  much 
that  you  should  become  wise,  as  that  they  should 
be  recognised  as  teachers  of  wisdom. 

NATIONAL  DECAY. 
This,  the  true  sign  of  ruin  to  a  race  : — 

It  undertakes  no  march ;  and,  day  by  day, 
Drowses  in  camp,  or  with  the  laggard's  pace, 

Walks  sentry  o'er  possessions  that  decay ; 

Destined,  with  sensible  shame,  to  waste  away : — 
For  the  first  secret  of  continued  power, 

Is  the  continued  conquest : — all  our  sway 
Hath  surety  in  the  uses  of  the  hour, — 
If  that  we  lose,  in  vain,  walled  town  and  lofty 
tower. 

FRIENDS  TO  BE  STUDIED. 

To  serve  a  friend  judiciously,  you  must  study 
him.  To  teach  him,  it  is  essential  not  only  to 


EGERIA.  31 

know  his  condition,  but  his  character.  Unless  you 
understand  him,  he  will  scarcely  ever  be  made  to 
understand  you ;  and  without  this  understanding, 
your  lessons,  educed  wholly  from  your  own  nature, 
will  in  no  degree  appeal  to  his.  To  enter  into  your 
friend's  necessity,  and  to  reach  the  point  from  which 
he  looks  or  thinks,  must  be  the  first  step  towards 
informing  him  with  your  thoughts,  and  moving  his 

mind  to  a  just  appreciation  of  what  is  wise  in  yours. 

• 

SECURITY  OF  INNOCENCE. 

If  we  take  the  word  "safety"  in  an  extended 
sense,  and  comprise  within  the  province  which  we 
seek  to  guard,  the  moral,  as  well  as  the  physical 
existence,  there  is  nothing  in  the  world  so  perfectly 
secure  as  innocence.  Apollodorus  lamented  to  So 
crates  that  he  should  be  doomed  to  suffer  death, 
having  been  guilty  of  no  offence.  The  philosopher, 
looking  beyond  human  limits,  inquired — "  Would 
you  have  me  die  guilty  ?  Melitus  and  Anytus  may 
kill,  but  they  cannot  hurt  me  /"  Yet  how  common 
it  is,  to  hear  people  lamenting,  with  Apollodorus  ! — 
as  if  pain  and  death,  which  arc  inevitable  conditions 
of  life,  should  be  the  only,  or  the  worst  evils  of  hu 
manity  ! 


32  E  G  E  B I  A. 

PATIENCE. 

Patience,  after  all,  is  the  highest  courage,  since 
it  affords  us  time  to  mature  all  our  energies.  We 
shall  hardly  ever  lose  our  redress,  if  we  keep  the 
wrong-doer  in  our  debt,  till  we  can  fairly  bring  him 
before  the  judgment-seat  of  Heaven. 

HUMILITY  OF  LOVE. 

He  who  loves  fervently,  as  naturally  elevates  the 
object  of  his  admiration  at  his  own  expense.  In 
due  degree  as  he  finds  perfection  in  the  creature  of 
his  passion,  will  he  question  his  own  success,  in  the 
doubt  of  his  own  worthiness.  But,  to  love  fervently, 
one  must  have  set  the  highest  estimate  upon  the 
value  of  his  own  affections ;  and  the  extent  of  his 
humility  is  in  due  degree  with  the  extravagance  of 
his  desires. 

PURITY  OF  DISTINCTION. 

The  moment  that  a  man  begins  to  rise  above  his 
fellows,  he  becomes  a  mark  for  their  missiles.  The 
already  superior  regard  him  as  a  probable  competi 
tor,  and  those  below,  or  equal,  as  an  impediment  to 
their  own  progress.  They  make  common  cause, 
accordingly,  for  his  destruction.  But  this,  if  he 


EGERIA.  33 

be  of  the  right  moral  stuff,  will  rather  help  than 
hurt  him.  If  he  be  truly  superior,  the  roughening 
process  to  which  the  strife  subjects  him,  endows 
him  with  the  most  beneficial  hardihood;  and  he 
continues  to  ascend,  until  he  ceases  to  be  within 
the  control  of  either.  As  soon  as  they  discover 
that  their  missiles  no  longer  reach  the  object,  they 
gather  them  up  and  make  of  them  a  monument  in 
his  honor,  equally  emulous  in  worship  of  the  genius 
which  they  failed  to  victimize.  So  far  he  is  safe  ; 
but  he  is  then  required  to  be  doubly  circumspect, 
and  his  shield  must  be  one  of  the  most  crystalline 
propriety.  While  he  struggled  up  the  ascent,  they 
would  probably  have  preferred  to  see  him  weak  and 
vicious.  But,  once  upon  the  eminence,  his  adamant 
must  be  of  more  perfect  proof  than  ever.  His  for 
mer  fame  is  now  his  foe,  and  the  exactions  of  his 
station  are  more  dangerous  than  all  the  missiles  of 
his  ancient  enemies.  Let  him  falter  in  his  place — 
let  him  but  touch  the  earth  for  an  instant,  and  show 
his  stains — and  the  clamor  and  the  assault  are 
always  more  formidable  from  the  superior  elevation 
of  the  victim.  We  see  spots  on  the  sun  and  moon, 
which  we  should  never  regard  on  a  house-wall  or  a 
hillock. 


34  EGERIA. 

FORGIVENESS  OF  FRIENDS. 

It  is  easier  to  forgive  an  ancient  enemy  than  the 
friend  we  have  offended.  Our  resentment  grows 
with  our  undesert,  and  we  feel  vindictive  in  due 
degree  with  our  own  doubts  of  the  chance  of  find 
ing  forgiveness. 

PHILOSOPHY  OF  SELFISHNESS. 

It  is  perfectly  delightful,  the  philosophy  with 
which  we  reconcile  ourselves  to  the  misfortunes  of 
our  neighbors.  That  another  should  be  hungry, 
after  we  have  dined,  is  a  consideration  that  dis 
tresses  nobody. 

NECESSITY  AND  TASTE. 

The  best  of  men  may  sometimes  fall  into  the 
gutter ;  but  it  is  the  worst  only,  who  is  willing  to 
remain  there. 

SERVICE. 

Good  service  is  prompt  service.  It  ceases  to  be 
a  favor,  when  he  upon  whom  the  service  is  confer 
red,  has  lost  in  patience  and  hope  deferred  what  he 
might  have  bestowed  in  love  and  gratitude. 


E  G  E  II I  A.  35 

CONSOLATION. 

No  man,  who  thinks  at  all,  proffers  consolation 
to  the  sufferer  with  the  view  to  soothing ;  for  that 
is  always  idle,  where  the  affliction  is  great  and  re 
cent.  He  rather  seeks  to  silence  the  complaint 
which  he  knows  not  how  to  answer. 

SOCIAL  GRATITUDE. 

Do  not  flatter  yourself  that  you  will  be  missed 
because  you  are  necessary.  The  world  is  very  pro 
fligate  of  its  treasure,  and  does  not  so  much  feel 
the  need  of  him  who  serves  it  faithfully,  as  of  him 
who  most  readily  contributes  to  its  forgetfulness. 

CONFIDENCE. 

To  confide,  even  though  to  be  betrayed,  is  much 
better  than  to  learn  only  to  conceal.  In  the  one 
case,  your  neighbor  wrongs  you ;  but  in  the  other 
you  are  perpetually  doing  injustice  to  yourself. 

CHARACTER. 

The  effect  of  character  is  always  to  command 
consideration.  We  sport,  and  toy,  and  laugh,  with 
men  or  women  who  have  none ;  but  we  never  con 
fide  in  them.  It  may  be  added,  also,  that,  though 
we  frequently  despise  such  persons,  we  never  hate 
thorn.  The  case  is  different,  where  character  ex- 


86  EG  KUI  A. 

ists.  The  man  of  character  will  always  have  ene 
mies  among  the  crowd,  in  fair  proportion  to  the 
number  of  his  friends.  Decision  of  purpose,  habi 
tual  earnestness,  and  readiness  in  the  formation  of 
a  leading  opinion,  on  every  suggested  subject,  are 
the  chief  constituents  of  that  moral  quality  in  the 
man  which  we  call  character.  Without  these,  there 
is  as  little  virtue  as  strength.  These  are  positive 
qualities,  that  force  themselves  upon  the  regards  of 
others,  and  compel  consideration — that  make  them 
selves  felt  always,  whether  for  good  or  evil,  and 
cannot  be  avoided,  and  must  be  encountered  or  en 
dured.  They  provoke  hostile  or  favorable  senti 
ments  among  mankind,  according  to  the  applica 
tion,  for  the  false  or  the  true,  of  their  several 
influences.  If  their  proprietor  be  a  good  man,  the 
bad  will  hate  him — if  a  bad  man,  the  good. 

SLUMBER. 

There  is  something  very  true,  very  fanciful,  and 
very  sweet  in  the  following  epigram  on  "  Slumber," 
which  I  translate  from  the  Italian. 

Sweet  is  slumber — it  is  life 

Without  its  sorrow,  sin,  or  sighing — 

Death,  without  the  fearful  strife, 
The  mortal  agony  of  dying. 


EGERIA.  37 

CONDESCENSIONS  OF  THE  PROUD. 

Button  your  coat  to  the  chin,  when  a  proud  man 
begins  to  natter  you.  His  assaults  upon  your  un 
derstanding,  betray  only  a  further  design  upon 
your  pocket  or  your  principles. 

DEATH. 

Who  is  it  that  called  Time  the  avenger,  yet  failed 
to  see  that  Death  was  the  consoler  ?  What  mortal 
afflictions  are  there,  to  which  Death  does  not  bring 
full  remedy  ?  What  hurts  of  hope  and  body  does 
it  not  repair?  "This  is  a  sharp  medicine,"  said 
Raleigh,  speaking  of  the  axe,  "  but  it  cures  all  dis 
orders." 

ACTION. 

Better  that  we  should  err  in  action,  than  wholly 
refuse  to  perform.  The  storm  is  so  much  better 
than  the  calm,  as  it  declares  the  presence  of  a  liv 
ing  principle.  Stagnation  is  something  worse  than 
death.  It  is  corruption  also. 

SYMPATHY. 

It  is,  perhaps,  of  no  great  importance  to  me,  that 
I  should  fail  to  secure  the  friendly  opinion  of  my 
4 


88  EGERIA. 

neighbor.  The  fault,  and  the  misfortune,  may  be 
his,  quite  as  much  as  mine.  But  it  is  everything 
to  me,  that  I  should  not  forfeit  the  sympathies  of 
my  race,  through  which  I  inherit  the  sunshine  now, 
and  hope  for  it  hereafter. 

TEMPERANCE. 

The  temperate  are  the  most  truly  luxurious.  By 
abstaining  from  most  things,  it  is  surprising  how 
many  things  we  enjoy. 

JUSTICE. 

Justice  is  the  great,  but  simple  principle,  and  the 
whole  secret  of  success,  in  all  government ;  as  ab 
solutely  essential  to  the  training  of  an  infant,  as  to 
the  control  of  a  mighty  nation. 

POVERTY  AND  WEALTH. 

Poverty  is  necessarily  feeble,  but  it  does  not  fol 
low  that  riches  afford  strength.  We  may,  if  we 
please,  make  wings  of  them,  which  will  carry  us  to 
heaven ;  but  we  may  also  as  certainly  make  them 
oppressive  burdens,  which  would  sink  the  most 
hopeful  soul  into  the  deepest  perdition. 


E  G  E  11 1  A.  39 

COUNSEL  OUT  OF  SEASON. 

Good  counsel,  when  the  fit  is  on  us,  is  the  very 
worst  sort  of  impertinence.  "  Your  words  are  very 
good,"  said  the  Seminole  chief  to  the  preacher ;  "I 
have  heard  you ;  yet,  after  all,  the  pain  is  here,  still 
here,  in  the  temples." 

INDEPENDENCE. 

To  be  independent  of  your  neighbor,  you  must 
first  have  acquired  a  perfect  mastery  over  yourself. 
How  should  you  subdue  his  faculties  to  obedience, 
before  you  have  trained  your  own  to  a  perfect  sub 
servience  to  your  will  ? 

NATIONAL  PROSPERITY. 

No  government  can  be  prosperous  or  permanent, 
the  people  of  which  are  unsuccessful  in  their  social 
objects.  It  matters  not  very  much  what  these  ob 
jects  are.  The  unimpeded  prosecution  of  them  is 
the  great  guarantee  for  which  governments  are  con 
stituted.  The  first  object  of  a  government  should 
be  to  convince  the  people  that  this  guarantee  is  per 
manent  and  certain.  Laws  which  fluctuate,  are 
fatal  to  popular  prosperity,  while  such  as  bear 
hardly  upon  any  class,  however  small,  though  they 


40  EGERIA. 

promote  the  absolute  wishes  of  the  rest,  will  be 
unwise,  and  become  oppressive,  in  the  end,  to  the 
whole ;  for  it  is,  in  all  such  cases,  the  nature  of 
monopolies  to  increase  in  due  proportion  to  the  in 
creasing  appetites  of  a  majority  which  are  thus 
pampered  into  forgetfulness  of  prudence.  The  boy 
and  his  gold-laying  goose,  of  which  we  read  in  our 
JEsop,  was  but  the  disguised  history  of  a  monopoly, 
whose  desires  cut  its  own  throat. 

PASSIONS. 

Strong  passions  are  the  life  of  manly  virtues. 
But  they  need  not  necessarily  be  evil,  because  they 
are  passions  and  because  they  are  strong.  The 
Passions  may  be  likened  to  blooded  horses,  that 
need  training  and  the  curb  only,  to  enable  him 
whom  they  carry  to  achieve  the  most  glorious  tri 
umphs.  Even  hate  may  be  recognised  as  a  great 
virtue  no  less  than  love.  Thus — 

The  noblest  of  virtues  are  Love  and  Hate, 
Fitted  each  with  the  other  to  mate, 
To  strengthen  the  brain,  and  to  kindle  the  blood — 
Hate  for  the  Evil,  and  Love  for  the  Good ! 

DECAYED  POLITICIANS. 
The  shrewdest  politician  is  he  who  never  asserts 


EGERIA.  41 

his  popularity,  nor  uses  it,  at  any  time,  to  its  fullest 
extent.  The  small  politician  is  never  satisfied  but 
when  his  bow  is  bent.  How  slowly  does  he  arrive 
at  the  knowledge,  which  all  others  possess,  of  the 
decline  of  that  strength  which  could  bend  it  so 
readily  before.  What  desperation  seizes  upon  his 
heart,  when  he  finds  that  nobody  now  runs  to  see 
where  his  arrow  strikes. 

GOD  AND  FORTUNE. 

We  must  calculate  not  on  the  weather,  nor  on 
Fortune,  but  upon  God  and  ourselves.  He  may 
fail  us  in  the  gratification  of  our  wishes,  but  never 
in  the  encounter  with  our  exigencies. 

BLIND  SEEKERS. 

That  we  do  not  know  the  virtues  or  the  talents 
of  our  neighbor,  is  due  quite  as  frequently  to  our 
own  blindness  as  to  his  deficiencies.  It  is  not  every 
body  who  carries  the  divining  rod  by  which  we  dis 
cover  where  the  treasure  lies,  or  where  the  waters 
gather  in  secret. 

CONQUEST  IN  ELEVATION. 

The  falcon  pursues  and  destroys  the  heron,  a  bird 

4* 


42  E'GEKIA. 

far  superior  in  weight  and  power  to  himself.  The 
swallow,  one  of  the  smallest  of  our  birds,  is  the 
favorite  of  all  our  farm-yards,  as  he  gives  chase  to 
the  hawk,  one  of  the  most  greedy  and  ferocious 
ruffians  of  the  air.  The  simple  secret  of  the  power 
which  these  birds  possess  is  in  their  capacity  to  at 
tain  the  highest  elevations,  from  which  they  dart 
down  upon  their  enemies  from  unexpected  points. 
Moral  power  requires  the  same  capacity  of  wing. 
We  must  gain  the  loftiest  heights  before  we  can 
successfully  combat.  This  is  always  the  secret  of 
conquest.  But  take  the  idea  in  verse. 

If  thou  would'st  strike  thy  enemy  to  the  earth, 
And  shame  him  to  submission,  let  thy  wing 
Take  counsel  from  the  falcon's,  as  she  soars, 
Still  striving  to  attain  a  reach  in  air, 
That  mocks  the  ambition  of  the  feebler  bird, 
She  singles  as  her  victim.     Make  thy  spring, 
Thus,  for  the  eminence  first ;  and,  while  thine  eye 
The  spacious  fields  that  sleep  below,  explores, 
Thy  courage  kindles  to  the  mountain's  birth, 
And  thou  wilt  grow  a  conqueror  in  the  sphere 
To  which  thy  soul  finds  likeness ; — greatly  stirred 
By  sense  of  new  approach  to  heavenly  height ! 
Thus  still  is  born  the  sense  of  newer  might, 
With  meet  assurance  of  the  victory, — 
That  feels  its  triumph  ere  the  shriek  of  death 


EGERIA.  43 

Breaks  from  the  sharp  pang  of  the  prey  beneath ! 
The  vantage-ground  is  in  the  noblest  flight, 
And  the  blow  ever  surest  struck  from  high ! 

GOVERNMENT. 

Governments,  to  be  wholesome,  not,  in  other 
words,  to  become  tyrannical  and  worse  than  useless, 
must  learn  to  accommodate  themselves  to  the  chang 
ing  conditions  and  advancing  progress  of  their  peo 
ple.  The  inflexibility  of  the  lawgiver,  wedded  only 
to  routine,  is  one  of  the  most  certain  causes  of  po 
litical  convulsion. 

FATE. 

When  we  complain  of  fate,  it  is  only  by  wray  of 
excusing  ourselves.  It  is  our  caprice,  our  impa 
tience,  our  cowardice,  whose  lapses  we  charge  upon 
our  stars. 

OFFSPRING. 

Would  you  have  noble  offspring  ?  See  that  you 
choose  for  them  a  noble  mother,  since  she  alone 
must  be  their  only  teacher  in  that  early  period, 
when  lessons  are  best  acquired  through  the  sympa 
thies,  and  when  the  heart  seems  rather  to  strive 
against,  than  to  obey  the  understanding. 


44  EGERIA. 

VALUE  OF  THE  AFFECTIONS. 

The  first  lesson  which  you  should  teach  your 
child,  is  the  value  of  your  affections.  Let  him  see 
that  these  are  to  be  won  only  on  certain  conditions, 
and  that  his  chief  good  is  in  their  acquisition.  Be 
stow  them  only  according  to  his  deserts,  and,  by 
this  simple  rule,  you  may  teach  him  the  not  always 
obvious  distinction  between  right  and  wrong. 

FAITH  AND  WILL. 

Faith  and  will  are  the  two  maternal  birds  which 
nourish  courage  and  performance ;  the  one  gives  us 
confidence  in  ourselves,  the  other  enables  us  to  se 
cure  the  confidence  of  those  whom  we  would  con 
quer  or  control. 

USES  OF  WEALTH. 

It  is  undoubtedly  a  duty  to  acquire  riches,  not 
for  the  condition  which  they  make,  but  for  the 
power  they  confer.  The  wisdom,  however,  proper 
ly  to  employ  them,  demands  even  more  earnest 
study  and  honest  endeavor. 

SCEPTICISM. 
Scepticism  is,  in  most  cases,  the  evidence  of  a 


EGERIA.  45 

hard  and  selfish  nature,  which,  governed  by  a  pam 
pered  self-esteem,  believes  nothing  but  itself,  and 
resents,  as  a  personal  indignity,  the  discoveries  or 
counsels  of  another. 

PROGRESS. 

Either  we  grow  wiser  as  we  grow  older,  or  there 
is  no  growth  at  all.  Either  we  advance  as  we  walk, 
or  we  cannot  well  be  said  to  stand.  Humanity  is 
progress,  or  it  is  nothing. 

TEARS. 

Tears  are  the  natural  penalties  of  pleasure.  It 
is  a  law,  that  we  should  pay  for  all  that  we  enjoy. 
It  is  well,  too,  that,  in  snatching  from  Fortune  an 
unusual  blessing,  we  should  not  be  suffered  long  to 
forget  that  passion  is  mortal,  and  that  the  very  wing 
that  bears  us  upward,  is  continually  shedding  its 
brightest  feathers. 

POPULAR  MORALITY. 

The  popular  prosperity  depends  very  much  upon 
the  popular  morality.  It  is  for  a  people  to  deter 
mine  for  themselves  what  they  shall  be,  and  what 
they  shall  become.  Soil,  climate,  fortune,  go  but 


46  EGERIA. 

a  small  distance,  comparatively  speaking,  in  obtain 
ing  or  securing  eminence,  happiness,  or  permanence 
to  any  nation.  Vainly  would  the  patriot  strive,  and 
the  sage  counsel,  and  the  soldier  fight,  if  a  people 
are  neither  true  to  themselves  nor  active  in  their 
proper  purposes.  In  their  own  hearts  and  hands 
lie  the  secret  of  their  moral,  their  social,  and  politi 
cal  successes,  and  the  labor  which  is  taken  for  them, 
in  which  they  themselves  do  not  share,  is  so  much 
labor  thrown  away.  Even  Hercules,  a  god,  could 
only  assist  those  who  were  first  prepared  and  willing 
to  put  their  own  shoulders  to  the  wheel. 

THE   PASSIONS  AND  AFFECTIONS. 

Did  we  exercise  our  affections  as  sensibly  as  our 
passions,  we  should  be  the  more  perfectly  the  mas 
ters  of  our  own  hearts.  But  of  these,  in  most 
cases,  we  know  quite  as  little  as  we  do  of  those  of 
other  people ;  and  it  is  only  in  the  ruin  of  our  re 
sources,  that  we  are  informed  as  to  their  extent. 
The  heart  has  its  own  season  for  maturing  and  for 
fruit,  and  in  suffering  that  season  to  escape  us,  we 
plant,  but  vainly,  for  the  future.  "  Too  late"  is 
the  mournful  conviction  which  reaches  us  at  last  in 
the  final  response  from  the  neglected  oracle ;  and 


EGERIA.  47 

the  first  accents  which  tell  us  that  we  have  a  heart, 
are  heard  only  in  its  dying  agonies,  when  despair 
forces  from  it  the  proofs  of  an  existence  of  which 
the  passions  have  never  permitted  us  to  know  be 
fore.  We  only  know  where  a  God  has  been  by  the 
ghost  that  haunts  the  ruins  of  his  altar-place. 

"  Still  upward  from  the  desert  comes  a  voice, 
That  once,  if  heard,  had  made  the  heart  rejoice ; 
Delight  its  burden  in  the  days  of  yore, 
But  now  it's  one  sad  murmur,  '  Nevermore !'  " 

REMEDIES  FOR  GRIEF. 

The  only  escape  from  grief  is  to  employment. 
The  only  resource  against  it  is  in  religion  ;  yet  it  is 
neither  our  policy  nor  our  destiny  to  escape  it  alto 
gether — since  it  is  by  grief  that  we  gather  strength 
in  heart  and  soul,  as  labor  endows  the  arms  with 
muscle  and  manhood.  Not  to  sorrow  freely,  is 
never  to  open  the  bosom  to  the  sweets  of  the  sun 
shine. 

FREEDOM  OF  OPINION. 

There  is  no  doctrine  more  dangerous  than  that 
which  is  perpetually  making  hideous  outcry  about 
(supposed)  dangerous  doctrines.  No  errors  of  opi- 


48  EGERIA* 

nion  can  possibly  be  dangerous  in  a  country  where 
opinion  is  left  free  to  grapple  with  them.  Un 
doubtedly,  such  freedom  produces  the  wildest  freaks 
of  speculation,  the  crudest  philosophies,  and  morals 
and  metaphysics,  equally  insisted  upon  and  impos 
sible.  But  they  are  of  a  fungous  growth,  have  a 
mushroom  life,  which  the  next  day's  sun  dries  up 
and  disperses.  They  need  alarm  nobody — yet  they 
do.  How  many  men,  with  hearts  of  lions,  haye  yet 
been  scared  by  shadows  !  Philosophy  has  its  bug 
bears,  as  well  as  superstition. 

NATIONAL  PAUSES. 

A  nation,  at  one  moment,  seems  to  be  utterly 
debased  and  self-abandoned.  It  exhibits  neither 
great  purposes,  great  performances,  nor  great  men. 
But  one  of  the  common  errors  of  the  (so-called) 
philosophical  historian,  is  to  judge  of  nations  at 
passing  and  isolated  periods — periods  of  transition, 
at  the  best,  when  none  of  its  permanent  phases  can 
possibly  be  apparent.  Sleep  is  an  element  of  ac 
tion.  A  nation  must  have  its  period  of  repose, 
quite  as  much  as  an  individual.  May  not  these  pe 
riods  of  unperformance  be,  in  fact,  periods  of  pre 
paration  ?  A  nation  may  stoop  in  order  to  spring, 


EGERIA.  40 

as  the  man  crouches  low  to  earth,  when  he  would 
make  his  farthest  leap. 

RATIONAL  LIBERTY. 

The  only  rational  liberty  is  that  which  is  born  of 
subjection,  reared  in  the  fear  of  God  and  love  of 
man,  and  made  courageous  in  the  defence  of  a  trust 
and  the  prosecution  of  a  duty. 

MOTIVE  AND  PRETEXT. 

Noble  spirits  rejoice  in  the  consciousness  of  a 
motive — base  ones  delight  only  in  a  pretext. 

DIFFUSION  OF  TRUTH. 

In  morals,  as  in  the  mere  essentials  of  social 
strength,  the  general  diffusion  of  truth  among  man 
kind, — though  no  one  individual  shall  have  grown 
a  jot  wiser  than  the  millions  who  have  gone  before, 
and  have  been  great  in  preceding  ages, — is  the 
great  but  simple  process  for  working  out  the  grand 
consummation.  The  universal  reception  of  com 
plete  truth — as  it  is  possessed  now,  and  was  possi 
bly  possessed  in  times  past,  by  certain  individuals 
— is  that  coming  of  God's  kingdom,  the  advent  of 
which  is  the  sole  business  of  prophecy,  and  the 
great,  but  how  little  appreciated,  hope  of  our  race. 


50  EGERIA. 

INEQUALITIES. 

Inequalities  are  the  great  elements  of  harmony ; 
and  the  business  of  art,  whether  the  ear  or  the  eye 
be  the  medium,  is  in  their  happy  reconciliation. 
They  defeat  monotony,  and  invite  contrast  and 
transition,  the  true  means  of  opposition,  parallel  and 
union. 

GREAT  NAMES. 

If  you  would  seek  a  place  calculated  to  compel 
melancholy  reflections,  find  a  wood  in  which  the 
overwhelming  growth  of  great  trees  has  prevented 
and  kept  down,  by  their  depth  and  breadth  of  sha 
dow,  the  upspringing  of  any  young  ones.  In  old 
aristocracies,  and  in  communities  the  fortunes  of 
which  are  stationary,  you  behold  this  condition  fre 
quently  ;  and  the  fortunes  of  the  land,  thus  shorn 
of  the  strength  of  its  youth,  are  perpetually  under 
blight.  The  great  names  of  a  people  not  unfre- 
quently  degenerate  into  tyrannies.  It  was  not 
without  a  cause  that  the  countryman  voted  for  the 
banishment  of  Aristides. 

ERROR  NATURAL  TO  MAN. 

Strange,  that  we  should  conclude  a  people  to  be 


EGERIA.  51 

unequal  to  the  business  of  their  own  government, 
because  they  sometimes  happen  to  go  wrong;  as  if 
it  were  any  argument  against  a  man's  reason,  be 
cause,  happening  to  dine  out  with  his  friend,  he 
drinks  too  much  wine  (a  very  reprehensible  error, 
to  be  sure),  and  partially  (though  temporarily), 
loses  the  proper  command  of  it.  The  man  and  the 
nation  may  equally  fall  into  error ;  but  this  is  one 
of  the  processes  of  truth,  as  scepticism  first  pre 
cedes  faith.  But  the  temporary  lapse,  or  error,  in 
man  or  nation,  offers  no  good  reason  why  they 
should  not  in  the  end  come  right. 

NATIONAL  PRIDE  AND  VANITY. 

National  pride  is,  no  doubt,  as  Schlegel  calls  it, 
"a  glorious  fault,"  but  national  vanity  is  very  cer 
tainly  a  grievous  folly.  In  the  possession  of  the 
one,  we  may  safely  laugh  at  all  the  world,  but  the 
exhibition  of  the  other  only  provokes  the  world  to 
laugh  at  us. 

REVOLUTION. 

What  are  the  revolutions  which  occur  in  a  com 
munity,  but  the  efforts  of  a  people,  who  seek  by 
madness  to  recover  what  they  have  lost  by  blind 
ness. 


52  EGERIA. 

GENIUS  AND  TALENT. 

The  most  striking  feature,  in  the  history  of  Ge 
nius,  is  its  courage.  Talent,  on  the  contrary,  is 
distinguished  chiefly  by  its  caution.  The  one  goes 
forth,  totally  regardless  of  its  costume,  under  the 
impulse  of  a  glorious  presage.  The  other  never 
suffers  itself  to  be  seen,  until  it  has  made  its  toilet, 
under  the  guidance  of  a  becoming  taste. 

SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 

Making  due  allowance  for  the  occasional  fortu 
nate  chance,  and  we  may  always  assume  that  suc 
cess  is  due  wholly  to  the  fact  that  the  individual 
has  properly  learned  the  lesson,  "Know  thyself." 
Of  course,  we  must  first,  in  order  to  determine  the 
degree  of  success,  ascertain  what  the  individual  has 
aimed  at.  The  higher  wisdom  seldom  looks  for  its 
successes  along  the  highway :  and  grows  rich  in  a 
condition,  which  the  world  may  despise  for  its  seem 
ing  poverty.  One's  wealth  may  consist  in  the  pro 
fitable  use  of  his  talent, — though  it  never  in  any 
way  adds  to  the  number  of  his  talents. 

LABOR. 

It  is  a  world  of  commentary  upon  the  laws  of 


EGERIA.  53 

labor,  that  it  is  morally  impossible  to  employ  the 
body  within  its  strength,  and  in  a  way  suited  to  its 
capacities,  without,  at  the  same  time,  elevating  the 
intellect.  Properly  administered,  the  law  of  labor 
is  not  merely  a  law  of  life,  but  a  law  of  progress. 

ATONEMENT. 

To  the  proud  man  who  has  erred,  the  great  diffi 
culty  is  in  knowing  when  atonement  has  been  made. 

POLITICIANS. 

The  politician  never  proves  more  utterly  mortal, 
than  when  he  gives  ear  to  his  enemy. 

LAWS. 

If  laws  were  made  by  wise  and  just  men  only,  it 
might  be  taken  for  granted  that  popular  outbreaks 
would  be  unfrequent.  Unhappily,  cunning  and  not 
wisdom,  selfishness  and  not  justice,  too  frequently 
employ  the  ermine  as  a  cloak,  when  simple  faith 
regards  it  as  an  emblem.  The  poor  and  the  igno 
rant,  who  are  always  apt  to  slumber  over  their 
rights,  are  sure  to  be  the  first,  if  not  the  only  suf 
ferers.  Can  we  wonder  that  the  sense  of  repeated 
wrong  and  outrage,  brings  with  it  a  sense  of  despe 
ration  ?  There  is  a  terrible  truth,  and  no  less  terri- 
6* 


54  E  G  E 11 1  A. 

ble  warning,  contained  in  the  famous  justificatory 
speech  of  Robespierre,  who  said — "Is  it  to  be 
thought  unreasonable  that  the  people,  in  atonement 
for  the  wrongs  of  a  century,  demand  the  vengeance 
of  a  single  day?" 

EGOTISTS. 

Your  egotist  is  of  three  descriptions — he  is  your 
complacent,  your  complaining,  or  your  contemptu 
ous  egotist.  The  first  class  is  a  sufficiently  common 
one,  and  needs  no  particular  description.  He  is 
your  sniggering,  simpering,  lack-wit — constant  with 
his  smile — who,  if  he  will  not  help,  cannot  hurt,  and 
may  escape  harm  on  the  score  of  his  own  harmless- 
ness.  The  other  two  classes,  though  not  equally 
common  are  sufficiently  so  in  all  conscience.  Con 
temptuous  egotism  is  always  ready  for  a  fight ; — 
complaining  egotism  is  always  ready  for  a  bribe. 
The  former  always  fancies  that  the  world  is  tread 
ing  on  his  toes  ;  the  other  is  always  afflicted,  lest 
the  world  should  not  see  when  he  puts  his  down. 
I  have  an  acquaintance,  who,  before  dinner,  is  the 
first  character  in  perfection — after  dinner,  the  last. 
He  unites  the  species.  Meet  him  before  he  gets  to 
his  chop-house,  and  his  acknowledgment  of  your 


E  G  E  It  I  A.  55 

"  God  den"  is  a  sort  of  defiance.  After  his  steak 
is  discussed,  he  moves  your  bowels,  if  they  be  at  all 
given  to  compassion,  to  hearken  to  the  narrative  of 
distresses  which  trouble  his.  The  whole  world  has 
gone  wrong  with  him — all  the  world  are  in  a  league 
to  persecute  him,  and  the  only  assurance  you  have 
that  he  will  not  throw  himself  into  the  river,  is  the 
consoling  conviction  that  you  feel,  all  the  while, 
that,  let  the  world  treat  him  as  it  will,  he  is  a  per 
son  who  can  never  dispense  with  himself.  His  self- 
love,  alone,  keeps  the  world  from  losing  that  which 
it  could — very  well  afford  to  lose. 

SUPERIORITY. 

The  right  to  govern  another  is  based  wholly  on 
the  presumption  that  he  is  not  able  to  govern  him 
self. 

PRICE  AND  VALUE. 

All  men  have  their  price,  says  Sir  Robert  Wai- 
pole.  It  were  devoutly  to  be  desired  that  they  also 
had  their  value.  And  yet,  it  is  very  certain  that 
men  hold  themselves  quite  as  frequently  too  cheaply 
as  too  dear.  To  set  a  just  value  upon  one's  self,  is 
the  true  import  of  the  aphorism — "Know  thyself!" 


56  E  G  E  R I  A. 

But  most  men  know  rather  what  they  wish,  than 
what  they  are,  and  are  far  more  capable  to  seem 
than  to  be.  The  habit,  which  is  taught  by  half  of 
the  social  lessons  that  we  learn,  of  deceiving  others, 
naturally  ends  in  the  deceiving  ourselves,  and  in  the 
silly  belief  that  we  can  deceive  God  also. 

IRRESOLUTION. 

To  show  yourself  irresolute,  is  to  endow  your 
enemy  with  confidence.  We  take  courage  in  be 
holding  a  feebleness  which  is  greater  than  our  own. 

INFERIORITY. 

A  conviction  of  one's  own  inferiority  soon  prompts 
a  thorough  search  into  the  weaknesses  of  the  supe 
rior.  There  is  nothing  that  the  slave  sooner  learns, 
than  the  faults  of  the  master. 

REASON. 

Certainly,  reason  was  never  conferred  upon  us, 
that  its  use  should  be  foregone  in  a  concern  so 
vitally  important  as  religion.  Yet,  how  are  we  to 
reason  upon  a  condition,  like  that  of  the  future 
state,  in  which  the  use  of  facts  is  wholly  denied ! 
These  are  the  very  materiel  upon  which  alone 


E  G  E  11 1  A.  57 

reason  can  ground  its  right  to  interfere  in  the  dis 
cussion.  The  truth  is,  that  reason  is  the  human 
faculty,  to  be  exercised  in  relation  to  home  inte 
rests.  Were  there  no  revelation,  we  should  be  apt 
to  refer,  for  our  religion,  to  our  instincts,  rather 
than  our  logic — and  in  spite  of  it : — and,  indeed, 
we  measurably  do  so  now. 

VOX  POPULI. 

"  Quis  custodiet  ipsos  custodes?"  demands  the 
satirist ;  and  the  question,  in  our  country,  may  very 
well  be  applied  to  the  people,  who  are,  or  should 
be,  their  own  guards,  and  in  whom  the  well-being 
and  safety  of  the  country  properly  abide.  How 
shall  we  make  them  true  to  us,  to  one  another,  and 
to  themselves  ?  This  is  a  question  much  more  fre 
quently  asked  than  answered.  We  rely  too  much, 
as  the  mathematicians  do,  upon  the  virtue  of  num 
bers.  We  take  for  granted,  as  Miss  Martineau 
does,  that  a  majority  must  be  right — forgetting,  as 
we  invariably  do,  that,  at  the  beginning,  and  for  a 
very  obvious  reason,  the  majority  have  been  sadly 
wrong.  They  come  right  in  the  end,  no  doubt ;  but 
the  doom  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  Socrates,  Galileo,  and 
a  host  besides,  sufficiently  shows  what  the  popular 


58  EGEKIA. 

tendencies  must  be,  in  all  cases  of  a  novel  character, 
and  on  the  subject  of  truths  and  doctrines  previous 
ly  unknown  or  untaught.  Nor  is  the  case,  in  all 
respects,  much  better  now,  than  at  the  periods  re 
ferred  to.  Persecution,  if  not  so  deadly,  is  scarcely 
less  active  to-day  than  it  was  yesterday.  The  ex 
pounder  of  the  new  faith,  it  is  true,  is  not  put  on  a 
gridiron,  to  test  the  merits  of  his  doctrine  over  a 
slow  fire ;  but  there  are  a  thousand  other  ways  of 
despatching  him  by  what  is  significantly  called 
" public  opinion!" — as  if  it  was  not  public  opinion 
that  fried  and  flayed  even  in  the  days  of  Saint  Bar 
tholomew  ?  This  public  opinion  is  a  thing  to  be 
made  and  compounded,  and  it  may  be  made  good 
or  evil.  In  no  case  is  it  a  proper  tribunal,  since 
there  is  no  sufficient  reason  why  the  tendencies  of  a 
mass  should  be  made  to  supersede  and  take  the 
place  of  justice,  whose  laws  should  come  with  equal 
emphasis  and  efficacy  from  the  lips  of  an  individual. 
I  am  unwilling  to  leave  anything  to  public  opinion, 
which  the  resort  to  a  less  flexible  court  will  decide ; 
and  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  it  is  in  consequence 
of  so  much  being  left  to  a  tribunal  which  is  as  un 
stable  as  water,  and  as  variable  as  the  winds,  that 
we  make  so  little  headway  in  our  progress  to  the 


EGERIA.  50 

* 

certain  and  the  true.  We  are  daily  congratulating 
ourselves  with  our  conquests  and  discoveries,  as 
well  in  morals  as  in  philosophy ;  and  yet,  Truth  and 
Error  still  keep  up  their  ancient  controversy,  and 
we  do  not  see  that  the  former  gains  much  from  her 
old  enemy.  If  Truth  does  sometimes  go  ahead, 
Error  comes  close  at  her  heels.  If  she  gains  in 
one  spot,  it  is  wonderful  how  much  she  loses  in  an 
other  ;  and  let  her  but  give  herself  a  moment's  in 
dulgence — let  her  venture  to  rest  herself  by  the 
wayside  for  a  while — and  what  a  hard  chase  her 
more  restless  and  always  ready  rival  will  give  her 
for  the  goal ! 

FORTUNE. 

He  need  never  despair  of  Fortune,  who  has 
learned  calmly  to  look  her  in  the  face ;  nay,  the 
courage  to  do  so,  is  frequently  all  that  is  essential 
to  compel  the  fondest  embraces  of  the  capricious 
goddess. 

HABITS. 

Inculcate  good  habits  in  your  children,  and  good 
principles — which  are  but  names  for  good  habits — 
will  follow  of  themselves.  Training,  and  not  teach- 


60  EGERIA. 

» 

ing,  is  the  word  for  children.  You  are  to  train 
them  in  habits,  which  no  future  lessons  can  un- 
teach. 

WILL  AND  MOOD. 

Our  will  is  not  always  superior  to  our  moods. 
The  heart  is  a  fine  instrument,  which  the  atmo 
sphere  easily  deranges.  Ordinarily  the  natural  in 
stinct  is  to  struggle  fearlessly  in  the  face  of  death ; 
yet  there  are  moments  when  the  feeblest  courage 
feels  how  easy  it  would  be  to  die,  and  resigns  itself, 
without  a  will,  to  any  fortune.  To  struggle  at  all, 
at  such  moments,  would  be  something  worse  than 
death.  Such  moments  are,  however,  of  very  brief 
duration.  They  are  adverse  to  our  most  precious 
instincts ;  indeed,  it  is  in  the  temporary  sleep  of 
our  instincts,  that  we  indulge  in  moods  of  this  err 
ing  and  debasing  character.  Life  is  a  duty,  in 
volving  many  strifes  and  embarrassments ;  the  fear 
to  encounter,  and  the  effort  to  escape  from  which  is 
quite  as  little  creditable  to  our  manhood  as  our  re 
ligion. 

STARS. 

It  is  at  the  very  moment  when  Earth  closes  her 
eyes  for  sleep,  that  those  of  Heaven  are  unveiled. 


EGERIA.  61 

And  how  readily  do  we  resign  ourselves  to  sleep 
also,  seeing  the  stars  above  us.  How  naturally  do 
we  associate  their  pure,  bright,  and  smiling  eyes, 
with  those  of  so  many  celestial  watchers — guardians 
set  to  keep  our  walls,  so  that  the  garrison  may 
sleep  in  safety? 

PRIDE  AND  VANITY. 

Vanity  compares,  Pride  contrasts,  itself  with  its 
neighbor.  The  former  rushes  impetuously,  the 
latter  moves  slowly,  to  this  scrutiny.  With  the 
former,  every  new  acquaintance  prompts  a  feverish 
heat ;  with  the  latter,  a  contemptuous  coldness. 
The  one  is  impatient  to  convince  others  that  he  is 
the  better  man ;  the  other  does  not  doubt  that  he 
shall  easily  convince  himself. 

LOVE. 

Love  is  the  only  true  maturer  in  humanity.  We 
ripen  vainly,  unless  with  her  assistance.  The  germ 
and  blossom  of  the  heart  ftever  awaken  to  conscious 
ness  and  bloojpa  \\ncfcsy  any  other  smiles. 

PROGRESS  IN  AMERICA. 

[Here  is  a  speech  in  sonnets — a  novelty,  certain- 
svkch  as  never  was  delivered  either  in  Par- 
G 


62  E  G  E  R  I  A. 

liament  or  Congress.  It  is  possible  that  it  may  be 
quoted  in  both  places  in  some  future  period,  since 
events  perpetually  bring  about  a  renewal  of  the 
strifes  in  respect  to  which  it  was  written.  These 
were  such  as  threatened  the  peace  in  our  Oregon 
difficulties.] 

I.  LYMPH. 

Man  wearies  of  the  wonted  !     'Tis  the  drudge 

Alone  that  shrinks  from  sweet  variety, 
And  will  not  from  his  chimney-corner  budge, 

For  promise  of  the  best  society. 
To  him — the  creature  of  a  stagnant  blood — 

All  effort  is  but  torture ;  and  Content 
Comes  to  him  ever  with  his  daily  food, 

Though  the  wide  world  with  uproar  may  be  rent. 
Is  Guilt  triumphant  ? — he  but  shakes  his  head, 
And  thanks  the  Lord,  who  gives  him  daily  bread ; 
Is  Virtue  outraged  ? — still  another  shake, 
The  certain  prelude  to  his  juicy  steak ; 
His  neighbor's  troubles  and  the  world's  despite 
Do  but  confirm  his  daily  appetite ! 

II.  BLOOD. 

Thank  Heaven !  there  still  are  men — how  precious 

few! 
Mure  precious  for  their  scarcity — with  whom 


EGERIA.  63 

This  bread  and  beef  alone  will  never  do ! 

Make  not  the  life  they  hunger  for,  nor  stay 
The  mood  that  prompts  them   dare  the   deadliest 
doom, 

That  Virtue  may  have  right,  and  Guilt  give  way ! 
It  is  the  noble  spirit's  discontent, 
That  will  not  in  the  ancient  fold  be  pent ; 

But  breaks  away,  and  pathways,  wild  and  new, 
Makes  on  the  shore  or  seeks  along  the  sea ! 
This  is  the  spirit,  above  all,  for  me ; 

Still  to  the  future  generations  true ; 
Not  to  be  harnessed  at  a  grandsire's  knee, 

But  its  own  master — mastering  others  too  ! 

III.     PROGRESS     THE     PURIFIER. 

This  is  the  true  nobility  in  blood, 

Established  by  its  manhood !     It  achieves ! 

Goes  on  its  mission  with  meet  hardihood, 
And  only  what  it  consummates  believes. 

'Tis  wild,  perhaps,  at  first,  and  rude  of  air; 
But  watch  the  mountain-torrent  at  its  source — 
How  foul  and  turbid,  as  it  leaps  with  force, 

Headlong,  to  hurry  on  its  strong  career, 

Bursting  old  barriers.     Follow,  then,  its  course, 

And  note  the  gradual  waters,  how  they  clear ! 


64  EGERIA. 

Self-purified,  the  natural  progress  still, 
As  certain  in  the  mortal  as  the  stream, 

Obeys  the  dictate  of  superior  will, 

That  works  its  moral  by  eternal  scheme ! 


IV.    NATIONAL    PROGRESS. 


And  what  are  nations,  but  the  gathering  streams, 
That  gush  from  base  beginnings  ?   Let  them  flow, 
Destined  to  gather  tribute  as  they  go ; 

And  still  expanding  to  the  sun's  broad  gleams, 
To  catch  new  brightness  with  increasing  length ; 
Thus  grace  and  beauty  link  themselves  to  strength, 

Until  the  glorious  progress  takes  a  name — 

Like  Rome  or  Albion — which  consenting  realms, 
Whom  fear  or  favor,  love  or  hate  o'erwhelms, 

Decree,  in  song  and  story,  shall  be — Fame  ! 

Ours  is  a  rash,  rude  people,  like  the  rest, 
Just  at  our  wild  beginnings — glad  to  own 
That  mountain  impulse  which  must  bear  us  on, 

Till  Glory,  born  of  Power,  shall  make  our  rule 
confessed. 

V.    PROGRESS     INEVITABLE. 

And  thus  we  cover  Texas !     Thus  we  spell, 
With  deeds,  the  drowsy  nations,  as,  of  yore, 


EGERIA.  65 

The  adventurous   Spaniard  cracked  th'  Atlantic's 

shell- 
Though  not  for  him  to  penetrate  the  core. 

The  good  old  Norman  stock  will  do  as  well, 
Nay,  better;  a  selected  stock  of  old, 
With  blood  well-tempered,  resolute  and  bold ; 

Set  for  a  mighty  work,  the  way  to  pave 

For  the  wronged  nations,  and,  in  one  great  fold, 

Unite  them,  from  old  tyrannies  to  save  ! 

We  do  but  follow  out  our  destiny, 

As  did  the  ancient  Israelite — and  strive, 

Unconscious  that  we  work  at  His  decree, 
By  Whom  alone  we  triumph  as  we  live ! 

VI.  STEEL-TRAPS  AND  SPRING-GUNS. 

To  say  that  France  grows  surly,  and  to  show 

That  Britain  builds  new  steamers,  and  looks  wroth, 
Because  'tis  certain  we  must  onward  go, 

Is  scarcely  to  prevent  us,  by  my  troth ! 
We  cannot  help  the  matter  if  we  would ; 

The  race  must  have  expansion — we  must  grow 
Though  every  forward  footstep  be  withstood, 

And  every  inch  of  ground  presents  its  foe ! 
We  have,  thank  Heaven !  a  most  prolific  brood ; 

Look  at  the  census,  if  you  aim  to  know — 

G* 


66  EGERIA. 

And  then,  the  foreign  influx,  bad  and  good ; 

All  helps,  new  lands  to  clear — new  seeds  to  sow ; 
We  must  obey  our  destiny  and  blood, 

Though  Europe  show  her  bill,  and  strike  her 
blow ! 

VII.     OUR    PEOGRESS     LEGITIMATE. 

And  'tis  her  policy  not  less  than  ours, 

That  we  should  have  such  progress !     Can  she 
hope, 

With  daily  growth  of  all  our  national  powers, 
Here,  on  our  soil,  for  our  own  soil,  to  cope  ? 

Why  clamor  in  the  question,  "whose  the  right 
By  conquest  or  discovery  ? — what  eye, 

Briton  or  Apalachian,  had  first  sight 

Of  the  great  wastes  that  now  disputed  lie  ?" 
The  right  depends  on  the  propinquity, 

The  absolute  sympathy  of  soil  and  place, 
Needful  against  the  foreign  enemy, 

And  for  the  due  expansion  of  our  race ; 

And  this  expansion,  certain  as  the  light, 

Makes  the  right  sure,  in  progress  of  the  might ! 

VIII.     NATIONAL     ABSORPTION     INK  VI  TABLE. 

Let  the  world  know  that  in  our  hemisphere, 
Europe  can  have  no  foothold.     The  design 


E  G  E  R  I  A.  67 

Of  Providence  accords  it  to  our  line ; 
And,  soon  or  late,  the  nations  far  and  near, 
Shall  all  be  marshalled  in  one  grand  array 

Of  linke'd  states ;  each,  with  peculiar  race, 

Sovereign  and  equal,  in  its  several  place, 
Harmonious  working  in  one  common  sway ; 
Blending  in  one  the  might  of  all,  when  foes 

Assail  them  from  without ;  yet  each,  as  one, 
True  to  the  spot  o'er  which  its  banner  flows, 

And  jealous  of  the  birthright,  sold  to  none ! 
These  all-sufficient  for  themselves  must  be, 
Sufficient,  too,  for  all  beyond  the  sea ! 

IX.    INTEGRITY    OF     THE     UNION     CERTAIN,    ON 
CONDITIONS. 

Well !  Feuds  will  disunite  us  ! — This  may  be, 

But  Europe  gains  not  in  our  loss, — for  then, 
The  danger  is  from  one  great  sovereignty, 

Since,  it  is  sure,  the  links  must  join  again  ! 
The  danger,  then,  is  hers  no  less  than  ours, 
Since  it  beholds  such  increase  of  our  powers ; 
A  central  strength,  beheld  from  either  sea, 

The  Atlantic  and  Pacific ;  that,  not  vain 
The  faith  that  Apalachia  then  must  be, 

What  Albion  has  been — ne'er  to  be  again ! 


68  EGERIA. 

Nay,  something  more  than  Albion  ! — with   more 

spread 

Of  compact  empire,  limitless  and  wide ; 
All  soils,  all  surfaces,  by  oceans  fed, 

And  thrice  her  strength  in  sons,  from  her  own 
stock  beside. 

X.  WHY  THE  UNITED  STATES  M  U  S  T  CONQUER. 

To  keep  us  from  our  conquests,  it  requires 

That  we  be  conquered  ! — Battles  may  be  fought, 
And  we  may  lose  them  oft,  as  did  our  sires ; 

Towns  may  be  burnt,  and  frigates  may  be  caught, 
And  navies  sunk,  and  armies  may  be  slain ; 
And  these  may  cool  us  till — we  warm  again ! 
But  these  are  checks,  not  conquests — to  delay, 
Not  turn  us,  from  the  inevitable  way  ! 
As  well  attempt  Niagara  on  the  leap, 
With  all  her  oceans,  plunging  o'er  the  steep, 
As  hope  to  stay  the  torrent  which  moves  on, 

Steady,  and  still  increasing  as  it  flows, 
Destined  to  sweep  the  wastes  of  Oregon, 

And  in  Canadian  wilds  to  melt  their  fettering 
snows. 

XI.  WHAT  NECESSARY  FOR  OUR  CONQUEST. 

To  conquer  Apalachia,  you  must  take 

Firm  foothold  in  her  centre  ! — you  must  rend 


EGERIA.  69 

His  rifle  from  the  Kentuckian — you  must  break 
Old  Hickory's  staff  that  man  could  never  bend — 

Must  tear  us  from  our  hearths — no  easy  toil 

With  th'  Anglo-Norman  nature,  which  takes  root, 
And  flourishes,  where'er  it  sets  its  foot ! 

Must  raze  the  spirit  we've  planted,  from  the  soil, 

Lest,  tasting  ere  they  strike,  your  myrmidons  grow 
To  freemen  with  the  taste  ;  and,  all  forgot, 

Except  your  tyrannies,  turn,  with  fatal  blow, 
And  make  a  "Crackskull  Common"  of  the  spot 

For  their  own  masters ! — These  achievements  done — 

Then,  how  to  keep  the  foothold  you  have  won  ! 

XII.    COUNSEL     AT    PARTI  X  Q. 

Take  better  counsel  from  an  enemy ! 

Make  us  your  friends !    Forego  the  hope  to  sway 

Or  strangle ; — let  the  destiny  have  way, 
Lest  it  destroy  you  !     Better  we  should  buy, 
And  barter  with  you,  for  our  mutual  wares, 

Than,  like  great  urchins,  with  more  bulk  than 

brains, 
Still  idly  go  together  by  the  ears. 

Let  us  avoid  these  penalties  and  pains ! 

Open  your  harbors  to  our  western  grains, 


70  EGEHIA. 

Let  our  commodities  come  duty  free, 

As  we  shall  yours — and  be  prepared  to  see 

That  all  the  provinces  that  round  us  lie, 

Are,  by  the  Power  that  everything  ordains, 
Decreed  to  fall  at  length  to  your  posterity ! 

SOCIETY. 

The  first  best  gift  to  the  young  is  that  of  good 
society.  If  you  do  not  provide  them  with  proper 
playmates  arid  playthings,  they  will  find  their  own ; 
and  the  devil  will  help  them  in  the  search,  rather 
than  they  should  go  utterly  neglected. 

JEST. 

Would  you  jest  with  the  tiger,  first  see  that  his 
teeth  are  drawn ;  with  the  fool,  first  see  that  his 
ears  are  cropped.  With  the  silly  and  the  brutal 
you  can  neither  jest  nor  reason.  You  must  cage 
the  one,  and  cut  the  other. 

OBLIGATION. 

It  is  one  satisfaction,  failing  to  find  preferment, 
to  feel  that  we  are  at  least  free  from  all  indebted 
ness. 

FAT. 

The  melancholy  of  the  fat  beast  is  seldom  fatal. 


EG  Eli  i  A.  71 

IMMORTALITY. 

To  the  ambitious  and  performing  nature,  the  ne 
cessity  of  a  future  life  is  sufficiently  shown,  in  the 
fact  that  so  much  of  our  proper  performance  is  left 
undone  in  this. 

SURFACE  VIRTUE. 

Many  of  our  virtues  are  not  even  skin-deep :  we 
put  them  on  and  off  with  our  clothing ;  and,  to  pre 
pare  for  God,  we  too  often  pursue  the  same  course 
which  we  employ  in  preparing  for  company.  The 
first  Eve  put  on  fig-leaves  for  concealment.  The 
modern  Eve,  for  the  same  object,  has  only  to  keep 
hers  well  washed.  Soap  and  water,  and  French 
perfumes,  suffice. 

She  eats  the  fruit  without  alarm, 

Then  wipes  her  mouth — and,  where  the  harm  ? 

ERRORS  OF  YOUTH. 

The  mistakes  and  errors  of  youth  are  the  evil 
genii  which  wait  upon  our  manhood,  and  the  ghosts 
that  make  us  tremble  in  old  age.  They  chill  our 
ardor  when  ardor  would  be  success;  oppose  our 
progress  when  to  advance  would  be  to  conquer; 
haunt  our  walks,  which  might  otherwise  be  blessed 


72  EttERIA. 

by  the  happiest  spirits — by  love,  by  grace,  by  faith, 
and  beauty — and  arc  not  to  be  laid  by  all  our  exor 
cisms,  nor  to  be  entreated  by  all  our  supplications. 
We  have  raised  them,  in  our  folly,  till  they  have 
grown  superior  to  the  check  of  our  wisdom.  Our 
very  friends  are  useful  to  encourage  their  assaults, 
and  to  keep  them  from  perishing.  They  keep  them 
wakeful,  when,  perhaps,  they  would  prefer  to  be  at 
rest,  quite  as  much  as  ourselves. 

AMERICAN  CHARACTER. 

Something  of  the  peculiar  energies  of  the  Ameri 
can  character,  is  certainly  due  to  the  fact,  that  our 
country  was  the  place  of  refuge  for  the  ardent,  the 
impatient,  and  the  adventurous,  of  the  Old  World. 
The  thoughts  which  they  could  not  breathe  in  the 
one  region,  they  could  speak  and  sing  aloud  in  the 
other.  A  dream  of  freedom  in  Europe  became  a 
principle  of  action  in  America,  and  he  who  could 
not  be  secure  of  a  home  in  his  original  nest,  found 
an  empire  where  his  wing  had  borne  him.  He 
brought  with  him  his  own  wing,  and  the  privilege 
to  use  it,  was  itself  freedom. 


EHERIA.  73 

FOOLS. 

The  fool  is  willing  to  pay  for  anything  but  wis 
dom.  No  man  buys  that  of  which  he  supposes 
himself  to  have  an  abundance  already. 

HUMANITY  OF  LOVE. 

Love  is  but  another  name  for  that  inscrutable 
presence  by  which  the  soul  is  connected  with  hu 
manity. 

SLEEP  AND  DEATH. 

He  who  has  surrendered  himself  to  sleep,  has 
yielded  to  a  temporary  death,  the  awaking  from 
which  does  not  depend  upon  himself.  Yet  he  lies 
down  to  the  one  never  doubting  that  his  eyes  wrill 
open  upon  the  coming  day.  It  is  the  delightful  office 
of  religion  to  assure  us,  among  other  no  less  happy 
truths,  that  death  itself  is  not  absolute,  but  that  the 
sleep  which  it  bestows  has  its  awakening  also.  And 
yet,  in  spite  of  all  her  assurances,  with  what  doubts 
do  we  yield  ourselves  to  the  sacred  slumber  ;  with 
how  many  fears  as  to  the  length  of  the  night ;  with 
how  many  terrors  as  to  the  sort  of  day  which  is  to 
open  upon  us !  Perhaps,  if  the  truth  were  known,  our 
dread  is  rather  greater  with  regard  to  the  sleep  than 
7 


74  EGERIA. 

the  awakening.  Our  fears  of  the  latter  are  not  so 
lively  as  those  which  attend  our  thoughts  in  respect 
to  the  duration  of  the  former. 

SELF-DECEPTION. 

It  is,  perhaps,  less  immoral  to  deceive  one's 
neighbor  than  to  deceive  one's  self.  To  him,  atone 
ment  may  be  made  ;  but  wre  never  think  to  repair 
our  injustice  to  our  own  hearts ;  and  there  is,  then, 
no  couching  that  habitual  blindness  which  inevita 
bly  results  from  any  habit  of  self-deception. 

AMBITION. 

Ambition  is  frequently  the  only  refuge  which  life 
has  left  to  the  denied  or  mortified  affections.  We 
chide  at  the  grasping  eye,  the  daring  wing,  the  soul 
that  seems  to  thirst  for  sovereignty  only,  and  know 
not  that  the  flight  of  this  ambitious  bird  has  been 
from  a  bosom,  or  a  home,  that  is  filled  with  ashes. 

ERROR. 

Error  is  like  that  genius  in  the  Arabian  Nights, 
who,  though  his  bulk,  when  unconfined,  reached 
from  earth  to  heaven,  could  yet  squeeze  himself 
into  the  compass  of  a  quart  pot.  It  is  surprising 
from  what  small  beginnings  most  monsters  grow. 


EGERIA.  75 

THE  AFFECTIONS. 

You  may  make  your  affections  too  cheap,  or  too 
dear,  in  dealing  with  your  children  or  your  friends. 
If  too  cheap,  none  of  them  will  value  them — if  too 
dear,  all  will  despair  of  securing  them.  Affec 
tions  are  so  many  moral  objects,  to  be  accorded  to 
justice,  not  to  favor,  and  never  to  be  withheld  when 
due,  nor  bestowed  when  undeserved. 

GENIUS. 

What  we  call  Genius,  may  perhaps,  with  more 
strict  propriety,  be  described  as  the  spirit  of  Dis 
covery.  Genius  is  the  very  eye  of  intellect  and 
the  wing  of  thought.  It  is  always  in  advance  of  its 
time.  It  is  the  pioneer  for  the  generation  which  it 
precedes.  For  this  reason,  it  is  called  a  seer — and 
hence,  its  songs  have  been  prophecies.  Its  prompt 
ness  of  discernment,  its  courage  for  adventure,  its 
energy  in  pursuit,  and  its  unselfish  surrender,  to 
others,  of  the  quarry  which  it  strikes,  are  the  great 
indications  of  its  character.  Genius  is  largely  en 
dowed  with  what  may  be  described  as  the  imagi 
native  judgment — a  faculty  which  enables  it  to  fly 
to  its  conclusions,  long  in  advance  of  the  slower  pro 
cesses  of  reasoning.  While  ordinary  minds  attain 


76  EGEHIA. 

their  results,  step  by  step,  by  laborious  diligence 
and  doubtful  thinking,  it  reaches  its  conclusions  by 
a  flight  equally  swift  and  certain.  Columbus-like, 
it  penetrates  and  passes  those  wastes  which  other 
men  tremble  to  survey.  Its  province  is  new  empire 
always,  and  still  conquest  rather  than  possession. 
The  way  once  opened,  it  yields  the  path  to  other 
footsteps,  and  is  never  so  much  at  home  as  when  it 
leaves  the  travelled  thoroughfare  behind  it. 

DEPENDENCE. 

Destitution  is  better  than  dependence,  since  it  is, 
perhaps,  easier  to  endure  the  cold,  than  to  find  one's 
patron  so. 

YOUTH. 

The  loss  of  youth  is  one  of  the  most  touching  of 
all  subjects  in  the  thought  of  him  who  has  past  the 
meridian.  There  is  an  impressive  anecdote  given 
by  the  historian  of  one  of  the  monarchs  of  France, 
the  Superb  Louis,  perhaps, — but  I  really  forget 
which, — who  was  heard  to  say,  while  gazing  upon  the 
beauties  of  his  palace  and  grounds  : — "  And  I  must 
leave  all  these  !"  Could  anything  be  more  mournful  ? 
His  thoughts  and  feelings  had  prepared  him  for  no 
better  world.  There  were  no  equivalents  for  what 


EGERIA.  77 

he  lost ! — Here  is  a  passage  on  a  like  topic,  which  I 
have  paraphrased  from  the  "Faust"  of  Goethe. 

"  Oh!  give  me  back  the  days  when  I,  myself, 
Was  growing  still; — when,  ever  freshly  springing, 
Life  was  a  fountain  of  perpetual  music, 
That  knew  not  break  or  discord; — when  the  world 
Was  veiled  in  sacred  mists — in  mists  made  glorious 
By  the  endowing  fancy ; — when  the  bud 
Still  bore  miraculous  sweetness; — when  I  gathered 
From  every  sterile  dale  a  wealth  of  flowers, 
Which  never  glad  me  now !     How  rich  my  stores 
When  I  had  nothing — and  how  ample  all 
The  nothing  I  possessed.     Oh !  give  me  back 
The  instinctive  passion  for  the  hidden  truth — 
The  joy  that  brought  delusion — yet  denied 
That  I  should  doubt  its  treasure.     Give  me  back 
All  those  wild  impulses, — those  matchless  passions, 
Now  swollen  with  fullest  energy  of  hatred, 
Now  with  the  glory  and  the  might  of  love  ; — 
Oh !  give  me  back  my  youth." 

HORACE  ON  POLITICS. 

Stuff,  Tom  !  no  more  of  politics, 
I'm  sick  of  all  these  juggler  tricks, 

This  strife  'twixt  ins  and  outs  ; 
The  knaves  behind  that  pull  the  wires, 
The  fool  in  front  that  prates,  nor  tires, 

So  long  as  Demus  shouts  ! 


78  E  G  E  R  I  A. 

I've  seen,  and  heard  for  twenty  years, 
The  same  vile  slang  offend  mine  ears ; 

And  every  wretched  shoat, 
Who  longs  for  office,  still  declares, 
How  needful  for  the  land's  affairs, 

That  he  should  have  my  vote  ! 

He  is  the  patriot,  born  to  save, 
(If  you  believe  the  barefaced  knave) 

The  country  from  its  fate ; 
This  is  the  crisis,  worst  of  all, 
Since  Adam's,  or  Napoleon's  fall, 

That  threatens  most  the  State. 

Don't  you  believe  the  rascal  tale  ! — 
The  State,  be  sure,  would  never  ail, 

Were  such  as  he  at  rest : 
He  is  the  cook  that  smokes  the  stew, — 
Rid  us  of  him,  and  we  should  do, 

As  safely  as  the  best. 

Suppose  the  State  in  danger  ! — well, 
Can  he  the  threatening  storm  repel  ? — 

Look  on  him  where  he  stands  ; — 
Pursue  his  progress — backward  trace, 
His  long  career  in  public  place, 

With  power  for  aye  in  hands. 


EGEKIA.  79 

What  has  he  done,  endured  or  shown, 
That  he  should  seize  the  helm  alone, 

And  claim  the  right  to  guide  ? 
He  spouts  and  swaggers — he  may  sway 
The  rabble  with  his  donkey  bray, 

But  can  he  aught  beside  ? 

'Tis  one  thing,  surely,  to  assert 
The  danger  threat'ning  still  our  hurt, 

But  quite  another,  when, 
Jack  Mainstay  rises  to  entreat, 
We  place  him  in  the  master's  seat, 

And  make  him  first  of  men  ! 

No  !  no  !  good  Tom  ! — There  may  be  strife, 
And  storm, — for  these  still  follow  life  ; — 

But  for  these  mouths  that  feed, 
Forever,  off  the  public  plate, — 
They  only  fatten  on  the  State, 

Not  help  it  at  its  need. 

For  us,  good  Tom,  'tis  quite  enough, 
If  still,  eschewing  all  this  stuff, — 

When  comes  the  time,  we  stand, 
Where  God  first  gave  us  breath,  prepared 
To  do,  as  still  our  fathers  dared, 

For  home  and  Fatherland ! 


80  EGERIA. 

POETRY. 

Poetry  is  the  offspring  of  rarest  beauty,  begot  by 
imagination  upon  thought,  and  clad  by  taste  and 
fancy,  in  the  habiliments  of  grace. 

INVESTMENTS. 

It  is,  after  all,  the  person  who  stakes  the  least, 
who  loses  most.  In  the  affections,  this  is  wholly 
true.  He  who  risks  nothing  loses  everything. 

BLINDNESS  OF  MALICE. 

But  for  that  blindness  which  is  inseparable  from 
malice,  what  terrible  powers  of  evil  would  it  pos 
sess.  Fortunately  for  the  world,  its  venom,  like  that 
of  the  rattlesnake,  when  most  poisonous,  clouds  the 
eye  of  the  reptile,  and  defeats  its  aim. 

PERFORMANCE. 

The  honest,  earnest  determination  to  perform, 
almost  always  suggests  its  own  modus  operandi. 

CONQUEST. 

The  conditions  of  conquest  are  always  easy.  We 
have  but  to  toil  a  while,  endure  a  while,  believe 
always,  and  never  turn  back. 


EGEIIIA.  81 

PROGRESS. 

If,  in  the  progress  of  the  years,  we  make, 

Ourselves,  fit  progress,  we  make  sacrifice 
Even  of  the  loved  performance,  and  forsake 

The  well-planned  purpose  for  some  new  device. 
We  burn  the  fruits  of  study  to  begin 

Anew  our  edifice ;  and,  day  by  day, 
No  sooner  do  we  well  fit  progress  win, 

Than  we  fling  down  our  tools  and  turn  away. 
It  is  a  'prenticeship  we  still  pursue, 
Not  doing,  but  just  learning  how  to  do  : — 
Our  progress  lies  in  knowledge  of  our  tools, 

And  a  becoming  liking  for  their  use ; 
No  doubt,  if  we  obey  the  master's  rules, 
We  shall  be  summoned  to  some  future  task, 

Let  us  but  learn,  he  cannot  well  refuse, 
And  this,  if  well  we  learn,  'tis  quite  enough  to  ask. 

PERFECTION. 

We  do  not  insist  upon  perfectibility,  but  consider 
it  best  that  the  human  heart  should  be  thought  capa 
ble  of  the  highest  policy  ;  as  sufficiently  comprehen 
sive  in  its  plan,  and  still  sufficiently  firm  in  its 
purpose  to  become  all  that  the  good  desire.  The 
powers  of  the  heart  are  more  frequently  underrated 


82  EGERIA. 

than  overrated ;  and  which  is  worse,  the  course  of 
education  obtaining  in  general,  is  calculated  rather 
to  keep  the  mind  what  it  has  been  hitherto,  than 
what,  with  the  daily  increasing  means  of  improve 
ment,  furnished  by  its  own  untiring  exertions,  it 
might  readily,  and  with  moderate  diligence,  become. 
The  ages  should  build  one  above  another,  as  we 
wralk  above  the  heads  of  our  fathers. 

HUMAN  FRAILTY. 

It  is  in  the  conviction  of  our  own  feebleness  that 
we  acquire  our  first  and  best  impressions  of  the 
might  and  majesty  of  God.  That  we  still  defy  the 
one  and  offend  the  other,  is  only  a  proof  that  we 
are  even  weaker  than  we  ourselves  believe. 

FAITH  AND  PASSION. 

It  is  much  more  easy  to  inspire  a  passion  than 
a  faith. — Were  beauty  but  as  solicitous  of  the  one 
as  of  the  other  object,  she  need  never  fear  that  her 
myrtles  will  change  to  willows. 

COMMON  SENSE. 

No  doubt  common  sense  is  an  excellent  and  ser 
viceable  quality — a  good  domestic  article,  which  is 


E  (J  E  K  I  A.  83 

always  useful,  and  which  wo  cannot  easily  dispense 
with ;  but  it  is  not  everything,  and  there  are  occa 
sions  when  'tmcommon  sense  becomes  even  more 
valuable  and  important.  Common  sense  is  the  prac 
tical,  every-day  faculty,  and  that  which  is  most  asso 
ciated  with  ordinary  success  in  life.  It  is  because  of 
its  success  in  ordinary  life,  that  people  so  mistake  it 
for  a  virtue.  Perhaps,  there  are  no  people  so  really 
vain  as  those  who  possess  this  quality  in  a  large 
degree ;  and  that  it  should  produce  this  weakness,  is 
quite  natural,  when  we  recollect  that  the  usual 
mode  of  determining  mental  excellence  is  by  refer 
ring  to  success  in  the  every-day  concerns  of  busy 
life.  Shrewdness  in  business,  resulting  in  prosperity, 
makes  common  sense  forget  herself;  and  the  man 
who  has  made  a  fortune  in  the  cotton  market,  is  not 
easily  persuaded  that  he  might  not  have  been  equally 
successful  as  a  statesman  and  a  philosopher. 

LIFE. 

The  object  of  life  is  not  life  merely.  Were  this 
the  case,  the  butcher  and  the  baker  might  always 
claim  to  be  the  most  proper  persons  in  every  commu 
nity.  It  is  not  the  future,  for  every  state  has  its 
own  conditions.  It  is  not  the  present,  for  that  would 


make  us  improvident,  like  the  brute,  taking  no  care 
of  the  morrow.  Nor  yet  is  it  the  past,  for  no  man 
looks  behind  him,  walking  forward.  Life  is  a  condi 
tion  of  equal  preparation  and  performance.  That  it 
is  a  condition  of  preparation,  proves  the  immortality 
of  the  soul.  That  it  is  a  condition  of  performance, 
proves  that  the  business  of  immortality  is  already 
begun.  Our  exultation  in  success  is  legitimate,  be 
cause  our  present  performances  are  in  obedience  to 
present  laws.  Our  hope  is  the  prescience  of  that 
yearning  which  looks  naturally,  with  equal  doubt, 
desire,  and  apprehension,  to  those  future  laws  which 
are  yet  to  operate  upon  us.  Life  is  an  ordeal,  in 
which  our  powers  of  endurance,  and  our  capacities 
of  achievement,  are  to  be  tested,  in  order  that  our 
future  rank  may  be  determined.  True  religion, 
which  regards  it  in  this  light,  does  not  task  us  so  ex 
clusively  to  consider  our  possible  future,  as  to  make 
us  heedless  and  indifferent  to  the  positive  present. 
The  desire  of  martyrdom  is  mere  insanity.  It  is 
the  needful  and  just  performance  of  present  duties, 
and  the  humble  adherence  to  present  laws,  which 
can  alone  fit  us  certainly  and  beneficially  for  the 
condition  which  is  to  come.  What  does  the  present 
life — the  absolute  day  on  which  we  are  entered — re- 


EGERIA.  85 

quire  at  our  hands  ?  Ascertain  that,  and  do  it,  and 
all  the  rest  is  easy.  The  future  is  the  unborn  child 
of  the  present,  whose  mother  was  the  past. 

BLIND  SEEKERS.    APOLOGUE. 

Look,  wretched  one,  upon  the  stream  that  rolleth 
beside  the  dwelling  of  thy  old  age.  See'st  thou  not 
within  its  waters  the  very  stars  which  have  shone 
upon  thee  in  childhood  ? 

The  years  have  gone  over  thee,  and  thou  hast 
grown  gray  with  many  changes — thou  hast  changed 
thy  home,  thy  heart,  thy  friends — but  see'st  thou 
any  change  in  the  bright  stars  which  look  up  to 
thee,  even  through  the  ever-changing  surface  of  the 
rippling  waters  ? 

Thou  dost  not — they  cannot  alter,  for  they  are 
the  eyes  which  God  has  set  upon  thy  path  to  watch 
thee.  Alas  !  that  thou  shouldst  have  looked  for 
them  alone  in  the  brooklet.  Why  hast  thou  not 
looked  up  for  them  in  the  heavens  ? 

Had  they  not  beauty  ?  Gave  they  not  a  sufficient 
and  sweet  light  for  thy  guidance  in  the  strange  and 
solemn  hours  ?  Why  hast  thou  striven  to  fly  from 
their  glances  ?  Why  didst  thou  refuse  their  light  ? 
Their  voices  spoke  to  thee  in  songs — faint,  sweet 
8 


86  EGERIA. 

echoes  of  the  living  music  that  streams  ever  from 
beneath  the  eternal  footsteps.  Ah !  did  no  faint 
whisper  of  that  music  fall  upon  thy  heart  in  its 
solitude  ? 

Alas  !  for  thee.  Though  thou  hast  lived  apart 
from  thy  fellows,  his  spirit  still  hath  been  with  thine 
— his  spirit  only.  Thou,  like  him,  seekest  not  the 
object  which  thy  own  mood  may  not  shape  at  will. 
Thou  lovest  not  to  look  upon  the  things  over  which 
the  arm  of  thy  power  may  not  be  extended.  Thou 
lovest  the  dark  and  the  forbidden — not  the  shining 
and  the  vouchsafed.  Thy  thought  is  shrouded  in  the 
darkness  of  thy  own  soul-^-so  that  thou  seest  not 
the  blessed  spirits  which  are  commissioned  to  give 
thee  light.  Thou  lookest  upon  vain  hopes  of  earthly 
substance,  even  at  the  awful  moment  when  God  is 
looking  upon  thee. 

Thine  eyes  are  in  the  dark — thine  eyes  of  the 
dust.  These  still  seek  and  turn  in  lowly  contem 
plation  upon  the  thing  from  which  they  were  made. 
But  the  eyes  of  thy  soul  grew  blinded  in  this 
survey.  Alas  !  for  the  myriad  eyes  that  gaze  down 
ward  in  sweet  benignity  from  heaven — how  few 
look  up  in  return. 

The  proud  man  builds  his  palace,  tower  upon 


EGERIA.  87 

tower,  huge  of  bulk  and  high,  still  aspiring  to  the 
skies  ;  but  his  gaze  from  its  terrace  is  bent  upon  the 
city  that  lies  below  him.  It  is  the  shepherd,  who, 
along  the  hills,  still  singing  a  glad  song  of  heavenly 
rejoicing,  evermore  turns  upward  a  yearning  eye 
— fond — looking  for  the  sweet  planet,  that  shall 
counsel  his  doubtful  footsteps. 

ENEMIES. 

Could  our  enemies  only  know  how  much  we  have 
forborne  towards  them,  how  would  their  hatred  be 
penetrated  by  remorse  ! 

CONTEMPLATION. 

l 

The  contemplative  mood  somewhat  depends,  for 
its  exercise,  upon  the  exhaustion  of  the  passionate  ; 
and  constitutes  a  sort  of  moral  interregnum — a 
twilight  condition  of  the  mind — which  fills  up  the 
interval  between  the  performances  of  one  day  and 
another.  It  is  in  this  twilight  period  that  the 
thought  prepares  itself  for  the  wrestle  of  the  arena 
— that  the  plan  of  the  campaign  is  conceived,  and 
all  the  scheme  digested  of  the  next  day's  action. 

SOLITUDE. 

Solitude  makes  a  contemplative  mind — society  an 


88  EGERIA, 

active  one.  The  two  conditions,  properly  alternated, 
freshen  one  another.  Solitude  affords  the  proper 
time  for  preparation — society  for  performance.  In 
the  one,  we  gaze  upon  the  players ;  in  the  other,  we 
enter  the  ring  ourselves.  The  former  teaches  us  by 
the  mistakes  of  others,  and  the  latter  by  our  own. 

THE  TRUE  AMBITION. 
Always  the  highest,  and  thy  aim  the  white  ! 

Yet  with  a  modesty  that  still  prepares, 
Girded  with  diligence  to  seek  the  fight, 
And  conscious  of  its  trials,  not  its  fears  ! 

There  is  no  policy  in  small  desire, 
If  that  thy  aim  be  conquest, — for  we  still 
Fall  something  short  of  all  we  hope  and  will ! 
Who  seeks  for  much,  must  ever  aim  at  more, 
As  birds  that  haunt  the  mountain,  dart  still 

higher : 

And  still  be  this  the  lesson  in  thy  lore, — 
The  ambitious  heart  all  middle  flight  must  shun, — 

Must,  like  the  eagle,  in  superior  skies, 
Stretching  his  giant  pinions  for  the  sun, 

Bathe  in  the  blaze  that  blinds  all  other  eyes ! 

STRUGGLE. 

But  man  is  no  more  made  for  solitude  than  sleep. 


EGERIA.  89 

The  repose  of  the  passions  must  not  imply  their 
stagnation.  They  must  rouse  themselves  at  last 
and  go  forth,  though  it  be  only  to  bear  a  burden 
and  be  baffled  by  defeat.  Successful  or  baffled,  still 
the  same — their  duty  is  in  the  struggle.  The  strug 
gle  itself,  is  the  life. 

SOCIETY. 

No  doubt  solitude  is  wholesome,  but  so  is  absti 
nence  after  a  surfeit.  The  true  life  of  man  is  in 
society.  Give  him  his  desire — place  him  in  the 
remotest  empires  of  the  sea  and  forest — and  his 
thoughts  will  still  wander  away  to  the  crowd.  He 
will  hear  in  his  dreams,  as  he  crouches  by  the  sea 
shore,  or  in  the  thick  wilderness  of  woods,  at  night, 
the  sweet  bells  of  the  distant  city.  Yes,  solitude  is 
wholesome,  very  wholesome,— when  we  need  a  re 
spite. 

SOCIETY  FOR  THE  MIND. 

Society  is  even  more  essential  to  our  intellect  than 
to  our  humanity.  Our  affections  do  not  rust  so 
quickly  as  our  minds.  It  is  easier  to  pervert  than 
to  subdue  them,  while  the  latter  is  always  pleased 
to  be  beguiled  into  forgetfulness  and  sleep. 


90  EGERIA. 

ATTRITION. 

The  attrition  of  rival  minds  is  the  great  secret  of 
successful  intellect.  The  genius  may  be  born  in  the 
woods,  but  it  never  takes  root  there.  The  tree  that 
has  sprung  up  in  the  shade,  will  blossom  and  bring 
forth  fruit  in  the  sunshine  only. 

VOLUNTARIES. 

The  mind  has  its  own  motions,  apart  from  any 
will  that  we  bring  to  exercise  upon  it.  These  mental 
voluntaries  might  be  virtues,  were  they  not  quite  as 
far  beyond  our  prediction  as  premeditation.  The 
worst  dreams,  says  the  Indian  sage,  are  those  which 
occur  when  the  eyes  are  open  ;  the  noblest  actions 
when  the  eyes  are  shut.  Did  we  always  carry  out 
into  action  our  waking  thoughts — nay,  could  we  see 
them  sometimes  enacted  in  our  dreams — what 
dread  and  horror  would  they  inspire.  How  many 
of  our  best  deeds  spring  from  our  eager  impulse — 
the  mind  not  being  suffered  to  shape  the  will,  and 
working  only  in  obedience  to  the  blood.  It  is  but 
a  human  charity  that  we  should  ascribe  the  frequent 
faults  and  grievous  errors  of  our  neighbor  to  the 
influence  of  some  such  blind  and  undirected  agency. 


EGERIA.  91 

EXTERNALS. 

The  exhibition  of  national  splendor,  or  of  private 
opulence,  is  seldom  a  sure  proof  of  national  pros 
perity.  The  bankrupt  makes  his  most  extrordinary 
displays  of  profligacy,  just  before  his  open  failure ; 
and  there  is  no  moral  filth  more  shocking  than  that 
which  imperial  trappings  are  employed  to  conceal. 
Remarking  to  a  pupil  the  various  transactions  which 
had  taken  place  within  a  short  period,  in  and  about 
Athens,  during  the  splendid  career  of  Pericles, 
one  of  the  Greek  sages  contrasted  its  condition  un 
favorably  with  that  of  the  period  when  it  was  mostly 
wanting  in  its  present  magnificence.  He  deplored 
the  luxuries  which  had  sprung  up  around  him,  super 
seding  the  humble  desires  and  the  moderate  ambi 
tions  of  a  virtuous  simplicity  among  the  people. 
Mere  beauty  of  externals  could  not  reconcile  him 
to  the  rottenness  which  lay  below ;  and  he  predicted 
those  destinies  which  were  inevitable  from  the  indul 
gence  which  never  suffered  its  means  to  regulate 
the  extent  of  its  desires.  It  is  only  the  few,  in 
any  country,  who  can  honestly  make  an  exhibition 
of  wealth,  or  can  virtuously  repose  in  that  indolence 
which  even  wealth  cannot  justify.  Any  struggle, 


92   '  EGERIA. 

therefore,  on  the  part  of  the  great  body  of  the  com 
munity,  after  the  shows  and  pomps  which  belong  to 
riches,  must  be  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  contest 
in  fraud  for  the  honors  of  bankruptcy.  The  philoso 
pher  would  always  prefer  to  see  a  country  thickly 
scattered  over  with  smiling  and  cultivated  farms, 
even  though,  at  the  same  time,  the  treasury  of 
state  or  city  remained  empty, — since  a  people  pros 
perous  by  means  of  labor  can  always  meet  the  emer 
gency,  whatever  form  it  may  take,  by  which  state 
or  city  is  endangered.  It  is  not  so  certain  that 
state  or  city  can  help  a  dissolute  people,  who 
have  yet  to  learn  the  first  rudiments  of  industry. 
The  noblest  edifices  in  every  country,  are  true 
hearts  and  strong  hands,  souls  not  debased  by  indi 
gence,  nor  enervated  by  luxury.  These  will  most 
certainly  be  found  in  every  nation,  where  the  go 
vernment  neither  subjects  them  for  its  creatures,  nor 
affords  them  an  unwholesome  example  by  its  pomps 
— a  people  who  will  always  have  a  filial  love  for  the 
soil  they  cultivate,  and  for  the  government,  which, 
protecting  them  from  others,  does  not  itself  seek  to 
oppress  them!  "I  would  rather,"  said  the  sage, 
"  see  the  national  treasury  for  ever  without  a  penny, 
than  know  that  any  worthy  citizen  stood  hopelessly 
in  need  of  one." 


EGERIA.  93 

MEMORY. 

Ah  !  do  not  grieve  that  we  forget ! 

Far  happier,  since,  when  all  is  known, 
Memory  is  but  a  long  regret, 

That  only  tells  us  we  are  lone ; 
A  mournful  watcher,  day  by  day, 

And  hour  by  hour,  that  teaches  woe ; 
Unknown,  till  Hope  has  soared  away — 

Unloved,  till  Love  himself  is  low  ! 

PUNISHMENTS. 

To  make  punishments  efficacious,  two  things  are 
necessary.  They  must  never  be  disproportioned  to 
the  offence  and  they  must  be  certain.  If  the  penal 
ties  of  crime  be  exaggerated  beyond  what  the  offence 
requires,  no  jury  will  inflict  them — if  not  certain, 
no  offender  will  fear  them.  There  is  in  every  bosom 
a  natural  sentiment  of  justice,  which  makes  us  recoil 
at  severity  and  the  arbitrary  decisions  of  power. 
Humanity,  therefore,  refuses  to  second  laws  which 
are  not  grounded  according  to  the  strictest  requi 
sitions  of  right ;  and,  however  deserving  of  pu 
nishment  may  be  the  offence,  where  the  proper  dis 
crimination  between  crimes  has  not  been  observed 
by  the  law-maker,  the  moral  sense  is  perfectly  justi- 


94  EGERIA. 

fied  in  permitting  the  escape  of  the  offender,  in 
preference  to  subjecting  a  fellow-creature  to  unde 
served  severities.  The  penalty  of  death,  under  any 
circumstances,  and  for  any  crime,  is  one  of  doubt 
ful  propriety  and  equally  doubtful  profit ;  but  how 
odious  and  terrible  does  it  appear  when  inflicted 
equally  upon  the  cut-purse  and  the  murderer.  In 
some  of  our  States,  horse-stealing,  burglary,  and 
forgery  are  punished  with  death.  What  worse 
could  be  inflicted  on  the  highest  offender  ?  What 
is  this  but  declaring  the  life  of  a  man  to  be  of  no 
more  value  than  a  bank  note,  a  wind-broken  hack 
ney,  or  a  silver  spoon,  valued  at  three  shillings  ? 
The  natural  sense  and  the  social  sense  equally  revolt 
at  penalties  so  obviously  hostile  to  humanity  and 
the  laws  of  common  sense. 

DISTINCTION. 

Distinction  is  an  eminence  which  is  attained 
but  too  frequently  at  the  expense  of  a  fireside. 

PENALTY. 

Some  one  must  always  pay  the  piper.  The  jest, 
however  shallow,  is  never  without  its  forfeit.  Wit 
and  humor  are  servants  which  it  costs  much  more  to 


EGERIA.  95 

work  than  to  feed;  and  the  more  prompt  and 
spirited  their  service,  the  more  dangerous  to  him 
whose  livery  they  wear. 

DAY  LIFE. 

We  should  live  well  by  day,  if  for  no  other  reason 
than  that  we  should  not  have  bad  dreams  at  night. 

THE  MORAL  OF  A  BLOT. 

All  things,  small  and  large  alike,  possess  their 
moral,  and  no  such  moral  is  insignificant.  Writing 
a  note  this  morning,  in  my  haste,  I  threw  a  mon 
strous  gout  of  ink,  upon  the  fair  sheet  of  vellum. 
Instead  of  writing  a  note,  I  wrote  an  epigram — 
the  moral  of  a  blot : — thus — 

The  hasty  hand,  the  reckless  mood, 

Will  thus  deform  the  fairest  spot; 
The  error  of  the  heart  or  blood, 

Still  leave,  where'er  it  works,  a  blot; 
How  more  secure  the  prudent  care, 

That  calmly  measures  well  its  pace! 
Thus  still  the  prospect,  ever  fair, 

Is  marked  by  love,  and  glows  with  grace, 

MODERATION  IN  PROGRESS. 
Wax  fat  if  you  can,  but  beware  how  you  kick 
like  Jeshurun.     Increase  of  wealth  requires  a  more 


96  EGERIA. 

than  corresponding  increase  of  wisdom.  We  are 
mortal  in  due  degree  with  the  extent  of  surface 
which  we  expose  to  the  archer.  A  vast  territory 
implies  a  corresponding  difficulty  of  defence.  Our 
mail  should  expand  with  our  bulk.  He  is  never  so 
much  in  danger  as  he  who  feels  himself  entirely  safe ; 
never  so  liable  to  overthrow  as  when  he  has  reached 
the  utmost  heights  of  human  elevation.  Prosperity 
is  the  close  neighbor  of  humility,  which  is  never 
friendly  to  the  vastness  which  covers  its  lowliness 
with  shade.  It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the 
greatness  which  compels  the  respect  of  inferiority, 
provokes  its  evil  passions  also ;  and  the  humbleness 
which  envies,  is  near  akin  to  the  hostility  which 
never  foregoes"  an  opportunity  to  destroy.  We 
should  never  forget,  in  our  power  and  prosperity, 
that  no  sunshine  can  ward  off  slander ;  no  wealth 
protect  against  fire  ;  no  luxury  secure  health ;  no 
authority  bring  repose.  That  we  should  acquire 
power,  is  perhaps  a  duty ;  but  to  resign  ourselves  to 
its  loss  and  prepare  against  it,  is  something  more — 
it  is  a  virtue. 

SLEEP. 

The  Genius  of  Sleep,  is  an  exquisite  statue,  the 


EGERIA.  07 

work  of  Canova.  It  has  drawn  from  the  Italian 
poet,  Missirini,  a  beautiful  sonnet,  which  I  have 
taken  some  liberties  with  in  the  translation. 

Ah!  see,  where  purer  than  the  Alpine  snows, 
Born  of  the  chisel  of  creative  art, 
The  angel  beauties  of  the  creature  start 
To  being,  couched  in  delicate  repose  ! 
A  peace  celestial  wraps  his  flowing  hair, 
As  if  consenting  heaven  and  nature  there, 
Had  wrought  together  on  the  form  divine, 
To  bless  the  sculptor,  in  his  dreams  of  grace! — 
Such,  and  so  fair,  was  Adam,  when  he  first 
Sat  in  the  lap  of  innocence — so  pure, 
The  joy  that  on  his  countenance  lay  sure; — 
So  full  of  love  the  smile  upon  his  face 
When,  from  his  shadowing  side,  fair  Eva  burst, 
And  her  first  accents  told  him — "I  am  thine!" 

ENEMIES  OF  DISCOVERY. 

It  is  probable  that  all  the  new  discoveries  of  an 
age,  or  people,  are  conceived  and  made,  nearly  at 
the  same  moment,  by  many  minds  who  have  ap 
proached  them  by  similar  processes.  Truths,  which 
Crod  has  accorded  gradually  always,  and  in  due 
degree  with  the  increased  capacity  of  a  race  for 
their  inception,  are  apt  to  be  sown  broadcast  upon 
the  earth.  They  are  quite  too  precious  to  be  risked 

9 


98  EGERIA. 

in  single  hands.  Thus,  failing  to  take  root,  and 
spring  up,  in  one  region,  they  are  yet  secure  of 
growth  and  tendence  in  other  quarters,  more  tho 
roughly  prepared  to  receive  them,  and,  as  is  more 
likely  to  be  the  case,  more  willing  to  give  them  the 
needful  care  and  cultivation.  One  community  might, 
just  as  well  as  another,  produce  the  new  truth ; — 
since,  with  the  same  race,  there  are,  in  all  its  tribes, 
numbers  of  God-appointed  men,  for  the  purpose  of 
developing  it;  but  the  community  only  too  often 
refuses  to  hearken  to  its  own  prophet,  and  denies 
him  the  privilege  of  sowing  the  very  seed  of  whose 
fruits  they  are  to  reap.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive 
the  vast  discoveries  which  communities  have  lost, 
simply  from  a  base  and  blind  jealousy  of  their  own 
sons. 

ART  TRIBUTARY  TO  GENIUS. 

How  often  is  it  that  the  man  of  genius,  as  he 
improves  in  art,  subjects  his  creative  attributes  to 
its  trammels.  How  much  of  his  vigor  will  he  re 
fine  away,  in  obedience  to  laws  which,  good  enough 
in  their  way,  and  necessary  to  a  certain  extent, 
are  yet  adverse  to  the  due  development  of  the  ima 
gination,  when  it  fairly  clothes  itself  in  wings. 


EGERIA.  99 

It  is  highly  important  to  refine,  but  it  is  fatal  to  the 
higher  works  of  Genius  to  refuse  to  give  way  to 
thought  in  obedience  to  Art.  To  arrest  the  flight 
of  the  eagle  to  the  eminence,  when  the  first  impetus 
to  flight  is  fully  given,  is  to  make  him  settle  down 
like  a  common  bustard,  on  the  tottering  summits  of 
an  ant-hill. 

CONDITIONS  OF  LIBERTY. 

The  condition  and  the  secret  of  liberty  are  per 
petual  vigilance.  But  perpetual  vigilance  is  scarcely 
within  the  capacity  of  man.  His  smaller,  and 
seemingly,  his  more  immediate  interests,  are  always 
pressing  those  out  of  sight,  which,  involving  princi 
ples  of  general  character,  are  apt  to  appear  shadowy 
and  abstract.  Keeping  this  danger  and  difficulty 
in  mind,  it  should  not  be  a  subject  of  regret  that 
power  is  always  wont,  at  frequent  periods,  to  forget 
its  limitations,  and  trespass  upon  the  possessions  it 
.  was  set  to  guard.  Such  assaults,  at  such  periods, 
become  benefits,  and  recall  men  to  first  principles. 
They  convert  the  abstract  into  a  practical  question, 
and  arouse  the  people  to  the  just  appreciation  of 
the  relations  between  themselves  and  their  rulers. 
This  leads  to  the  strengthening  of  ancient  bulwarks, 


100  EGERIA. 

and  the  designation  anew  of  the  landmarks  of  lib 
erty.  Power,  when  it  becomes  tyranny,  is  about  to 
commit  suicide.  Quern  deus  vult  perdere,  prius 
dementat.  This  is  no  mischance.  The  evil  is  about 
to  work  its  own  cure.  There  is  necessary,  in  all 
society,  a  period  of  purification :  men,  from  sloth, 
ignorance,  or  an  overtamed  confidence  in  their 
fortune  or  their  institutions,  slumber  over  their 
rights  and  duties.  They  are  the  last  to  believe  in 
the  danger  as  threatening  them,  which  they  very 
clearly  behold  operating  against  the  peace  of  other 
nations ;  and  the  conduct  of  their  affairs  naturally 
passes  into  the  hands  of  those  who  are  equally 
vicious,  weak,  and  irresponsible.  The  tyrant,  then, 
is  but  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  that  Pro 
vidence  which  still 

"  Shapes  our  ends, 
Rough  hew  them  as  we  will." 

He  becomes  necessary  to  waken  them  from  their 
slumbers,  lest  worse  should  happen ;  for  habitual 
apathy  in  a  people,  is  worse,  a  thousand  times,  than 
revolution  and  civil  war.  It  is  only  thus  that  they 
rouse  themselves  to  all  the  obligations  of  civil 
liberty.  If  liberty  be  liberal,  she  must  be  jealous 


EGERIA.  101 

also.  To  preserve  her  chastity,  she  must  be  armed 
with  perpetual  vigilance,  a  far  more  efficient  agent 
than  the  secret  dagger.  Those  who  seek  her  em 
braces  must  be  taught  to  remember  that  she  is  only 
to  be  won  by  the  virtuous,  the  enlightened,  and  the 
brave — only  to  be  kept  in  always  immaculate  pos 
session,  by  unceasing  love,  true  courage,  and  a  wea 
pon  always  ready  and  sharpened  for  the  strife. 

CUNNING  OF  BEAUTY. 

The  sarcasm,  in  the  following  epigram  from  the 
Portuguese,  is  surely  not  a  very  malignant  one. 

"  Within  her  breast,  more  white  than  snows, 
Fair  Amaryllis-  plants  the  rose  ; 
Not  that  the  flower  should  fix  your  eyes, 
But  the  sweet  garden  where  it  lies." 

BIRTH  OF  TRUTH. 

The  conception  of  a  new  truth,  or  a  new  philoso 
phy,  must,  for  a  long  time,  precede  its  illustration 
by  open  argument.  Men,  in  fact,  will  feel  a  truth, 
or  a  principle,  long  before  they  reduce  it  to  specu 
lation  ;  and  will  gradually  grow  to  think  upon  it, 
long  before  they  develope  their  discoveries  by  dis 
cussion.  The  earth  will  thus,  as  it  were,  be  prepared 


102  EGERIA. 

for  the  plant  before  the  seed  is  sown.  A  sentiment 
will  thus  diffuse  itself  among  a  race,  before  their 
metaphysicians  shall  have  suspected  its  existence, 
or  recognised  its  presence ;  and  such  a  sentiment, 
thus  acquired  and  unconsciously  possessed,  will 
afford,  by  the  very  peculiar  nature  of  its  birth  and 
quiet  diffusion,  an  d  priori  in  behalf  of  its  vitality. 
It  will  not  be  the  ingenious  theory  or  conjecture  of 
a  single  mind,  but  the  mute  instinct  of  a  multitude. 

TRUE  AND  FALSE. 

The  True  is  the  inevitable — for  ever  a  be-coming 
— i.  e.  a  thing  being  to  be.  It  is  therefore  the 
indestructible.  That  you  may  not  see,  or  believe  it 
when  seen,  only  proves  that  you  do  not  yet  know 
where,  or  how,  to  look  for  your  own  securities. 
The  False ,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  thing  perfect 
from  the  first.  Thus  it  is,  that,  with  every  facility 
for  the  exercise  of  its  power,  it  tends  evermore 
to  self-destruction.  The  False  is  never  long-lived. 
It  dies  out  with  every  generation.  In  the  nature 
of  things,  its  danger  is  in  due  proportion  to  its  ac 
tivity  ;  and  this  is  the  remarkable  respect  in  which 
it  differs  most  from  Truth,  which  grows  from  exer 
cise,  and  finds  its  bulk,  and  its  force,  from  its  very 


EGERIA.  103 

diffusiveness.  Error  is  never  more  safe  than  when 
it  is  stationary — Truth  never  more  triumphant  than 
when  she  struggles  with  her  adversary. 

PATRIOTISM  OF  TRUTH. 

There  is  the  patriotism  of  truth,  a  subject  which 
seems  inseparable  from  any  consideration  of  its 
intrinsic  qualities.  Moralists  are  not  yet  determined 
whether  instances  may  not  occur  in  which  falsehood 
may  not  only  be  permitted,  but  would  be  justifiable. 
Perhaps,  if  our  survey  in  the  moral  world  were 
bounded  only  by  the  present  hour  and  the  pressing 
necessity,  the  proposition  might  be  answered  in  the 
affirmative.  But  moral  things,  unlike  all  others, 
endure  for  all  ages — extend  through  all  nations — 
affect  the  destinies  of  all  times,  and  form  the  most 
imposing  interests  of  eternity.  We  cannot,  there 
fore,  reason  on  such  a  subject  with  a  simple  reference 
to  the  present  case  and  the  passing  moment.  The 
truth  concerns  our  children  as  well  as  ourselves. 
The  truth  belongs  to  our  people  as  well  as  to  our 
family.  It  is  essential  to  man  throughout — it  is 
the  great  essential  of  the  human  race,  and  on  its 
immortality  depends  their  own — their  greatness, 
happiness,  and  glory.  A  falsehood  is  likely  to  do 


104  EGERIA. 

harm  ultimately,  in  some  way  or  other,  and  with 
greater  or  less  degree  of  hurt.  It  is  an  experiment 
in  poisoning,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  our  fingers, 
having  once  dealt  in  it,  will  ever  become  free  from 
the  taint.  Falsehood,  by  itself,  might  be  of  little 
danger  ;  but  it  is  never  by  itself.  It  runs  and  repro 
duces  itself  the  moment  it  is  born.  But  its  attitude 
of  greatest  evil  is  as  the  direct  antagonist  of  truth. 
It  is  an  active  principle,  as  subtle  as  light,  which  is 
its  opposite.  A  fanciful  allegory  of  one  of  the 
Orientals,  very  happily  describes  every  new  truth  as 
immediately  marshalling  itself  among  the  children 
of  light,  in  the  ranks  of  God ;  while  every  falsehood, 
in  like  manner,  and  by  a  like  instinct,  ranges  itself 
instantly  under  the  sable  standard  of  Lucifer.  They 
become,  each  in  its  place,  spirits  of  power ;  and 
traverse  the  world,  in  behalf  of  their  respective 
commanders,  engaging  in  frequent  conflict  when 
they  meet ;  and  making  an  eternal  battle-field  of 
that  province  of  civil  discord,  the  poor,  benighted, 
scourged,  and  ravaged  heart  of  man !  The  idea 
seems  to  me  quite  as  felicitous  as  fanciful.  The 
question  is  asked,  "May  we  not,  in  the  last  hope  of 
struggling  humanity,  resort  to  falsehood,  where 
this  is  obviously  the  only  mode  left  of  escape  from 


EGERIA.  105 

unjust  torture,  punishment,  and  death?"  The  ex 
ample  of  the  apostles  might  be  relied  on  here. 
They  have  answered  the  question.  Christ,  in  an 
ticipation,  rebuked  the  feebleness  of  Peter,  who, 
shrinking  from  human  penalties,  denied  equally  the 
truth  and  his  Master.  But  the  case  supposed  is 
one  in  which,  though  you  yourself  escape,  the  false 
hood  may  do  harm ;  and  the  truth,  though  you 
perish,  must  ultimately  be  productive  of  good. 
Your  martyrdom,  aloije,  would  most  probably  over 
throw  the  tyranny,  by  arousing  the  people,  whom 
no  less  matter  could  inspirit  into  activity,  and  to  a 
just  sense  of  the  general  danger.  Such  was  the 
martyrdom  of  the  Saviour  and  the  Saints  ;  and,  for  a 
like  object,  the  safety  and  circulation  of  the  truth, 
for  the  preservation  of  the  many.  I  grant  that 
martyrdom  is  not  very  desirable  under  any  circum 
stances  ;  and  that  it  is  not  the  ordinary  mind  which 
will  be  willing  to  encounter  it  in  any  behalf. 
But,  there  are  men,  fortunately  for  mankind,  to 
whom  the  truth  itself  brings  consolation  enough ; 
and  whom  glorious  memories  in  after  times,  and  a 
perpetually  musing  gratitude,  keep  holy  through 
long  ages,  and  thus  reward  for  their  sufferings  under 
the  scourge  and  upon  the  rack.  The  pang  of  deatli 


106  EGEUIA. 

is  only  an  instant  in  duration,  but  the  life  which 
follows  in  consequence  is  eternal,  and  as  glorious 
as  eternal. 

What  would  have  been,  what  would  be  the  case, 
if  there  were  not,  and  had  not  been,  such  men  ? 
Where  would  be  our  glory,  our  strength,  our  secu 
rity,  happiness,  and  intellectual  freedom,  but  for 
those  daring  and  enduring  martyrs,  who,  with  a 
spirit  setting  at  defiance  every  weakness  of  the  flesh, 
have  gone  fearlessly  into  the  gloomy  dens  of  ancient 
error,  denouncing  the  superstition,  overthrowing  the 
idol,  and  setting  up  the  true  God,  which  is  truth  ? 
All  innovation  upon  established  customs  is  invaria 
bly  and  sturdily  resisted,  and  men  are  known  to 
fight  for  their  prejudices  who  would  never  fight  for 
their  country.  The  teacher  of  the  hitherto  unknown 
truth,  in  all  past  times,  has  been  stoned  to  death  by 
the  serviles  of  ancient  error.  In  this  way  perished 
the  long  array  of  the  "just  made  perfect,"  the 
saint,  the  sage,  the  philosopher,  and  the  patriot — of 
all  who  have  ever  shown  an  honest  determination  to 
seek  out  and  elevate  the  truth,  in  the  teeth  of  un 
holy  prejudice  and  unwise  passion  !  Our  condition 
would  be  lamentable  indeed,  if  there  were  not  some 
few  consecrated  spirits  in  every  nation,  and  through 


EGERIA.  107 

all  periods,  who,  scorning  the  policy  of  the  world 
ling  (which,  for  the  uncertain  safety  of  the  moment, 
would  barter  the  glorious  guarantee  of  permanent  as 
surance),  can  appreciate  and  assert  the  true  nature 
and  just  rights  of  his  race,  without  reference  to  the 
penalty  or  the  reward !  There  will  be  truth-loving 
men  to  the  last,  whatever  the  bondage,  however 
ruthless  the  pursuing  enemy,  who,  looking  beyond 
their  own  day  and  destiny,  from  the  moral  Pisgah, 
will  direct  their  people  to  the  distant  Promise. 
Who,  sustained  and  stimulated  by  higher  and  holier 
considerations  than  the  love  of  gain  or  aggrandize 
ment,  or  the  yet  meaner  desire  of  safety  and  obscu 
rity,  will  challenge  the  tyrant  of  error  and  abusive 
custom  openly  in  the  highways ;  and,  like  the  Pea 
sant  Tell,  amidst  the  spears  of  his  enemies,  refuse, 
though  they  stand  alone,  to  bow  down,  in  derogation 
of  the  truth,  before  the  cap  of  usurpation  ! 

BLESSED  IN  DENIAL. 

I  think  the  Spaniards  have  shown  themselves  quite 
as  successful  with  the  epigram  as  any  other  modern 
people.  The  following,  imitated  from  that  language, 
is  doubly  pointed.  It  is  in  fact  two  epigrams  in  one. 
The  reader  will  excuse  a  slight  grammatical  error, 


108  EGERIA. 

which,  for  the  rhyme's  sake,  it  was  scarcely  possible 
to  avoid.  "  Kings  are  not  more  imperative  than 
rhymes." 

To  seek  his  wife,  with  little  profit, 
The  Thracian  Orpheus  went  to  Tophet ; 
A  realm  of  such  a  sad  condition, 
He  could  not  seek  on  sadder  mission : 
Disposed  to  punish  quest  so  human, 
Grim  Pluto  gave  him  up  the  woman ; 
Yet,  as  the  Bard's  song  overcome  him , 
Grew  softened,  and  back  took  her  from  him. 

SUCCOR. 

Would  you  have  succor,  do  not  cry  for  assistance, 
so  long  as  it  is  possible  that  your  straits  may  be 
seen  by  those  who  might  bestow  it.  Better  that 
they  should  volunteer  their  service,  than  that  you 
should  appeal  to  their  philanthropy.  In  the  former 
case,  their  consciousness  of  a  generous  act  will  suf 
ficiently  reward  them  ;  in  the  latter,  you  may  expect 
that  they  will  frequently  remind  you  of  their  succor. 
Not  to  seem  to  want  help,  is  greatly  to  insure  your 
chance  of  getting  it.  In  money  matters,  this  is 
particularly  the  case.  People  are  never  more  lavish 
in  their  proffers  of  aid  than  when  they  feel  satisfied 
that  they  shall  not  be  taken  at  the  word. 


EGERIA.  109 

GHOST-SEEING. 

The  moment  that  Philosophy  conceived  the  idea 
of  a  plurality  of  worlds,  from  that  moment  the  faith 
seems  pretty  much  to  have  died  out  in  spiritual 
visitations.  The  discovery  of  new  realms  and  re 
gions  for  which  occupants  were  yet  to  be  furnished, 
seems  naturally  to  have  suggested  a  whereabouts  for 
the  habitation  of  the  departed.  That  they  should 
no  longer  revisit  the  "  glimpses  of  our  moon,"  is  to 
be  accounted  for  by  the  adequate  employment  which 
they  find  in  their  own.  The  conjecture  is,  at  all 
events,  quite  as  agreeable  to  us,  as  it  ought  to  be 
satisfactory  to  them.  The  idea  of  poor,  thin,  naked 
ghosts  prowling  about  their  old  homesteads  at  mid 
night,  is  quite  distressing  to  us — but  wholly  on  their 
account. 

WASHINGTON. 

And  the  Genius  of  Death,  with  his  brow  bound 
about  with  the  gloomy  hemlock,  and  bearing  in  his 
hands  a  living  but  leafless  cypress,  stood  beside  the 
couch  where  Washington  lay  : 

"I  will  quench  this  light,"  said  the  Genius — "I 
will  overcome  this  lofty  spirit,  which,  forgetting  me, 
mankind  delights  to  honor." 
10 


110  EG  EII  i  A. 

"  Thou  quench  this  light ! — thou  overcome  this 
spirit!" — replied  the  Genius  of  Eternal  Fame,  stand 
ing  also  beside  the  couch  of  the  sleeping  father — 
"  Oh,  fool  that  thou  art ! — he  hath  given  thee  immor 
tality  in  dying  at  thy  hands." 

STATESMANSHIP. 

To  the  sight  of  ordinary  men,  there  is,  at  this 
moment,  scarcely  anything  desirable  in  the  position 
of  ministers  either  in  Europe  or  America.  There 
seems  to  be  everywhere  at  hand,  a  general  breaking 
up  of  the  waters.  All  the  political  elements  are  in 
commotion,  and  moderate-minded  men  may  well  be 
modest.  Timidity  naturally  shrinks  from  trials  be 
yond  its  strength ;  but  it  is  the  occasion  and  the 
necessity,  which  are  the  true  accoucheurs  of  genius. 
It  is  only  in  the  storm  that  the  mighty  spirit  is 
roused  to  exertion ;  who,  when  the  sky  was  un 
troubled  and  serene,  seemed  to  enjoy  its  repose 
beyond  all  others,  and  betrayed  almost  as  little  con 
sciousness  of  life  as  of  ambition.  The  necessity 
breeds  the  power  by  which  it  is  to  be  controlled ;  and 
the  external  pressure  alone  informs  society  of  the 
energies  which  it  keeps,  as  it  forces  into  action  the 
sluggish  spirit  which  never  suspected  its  own  strength- 


EGERIA.  Ill 

Holiday  statesmen,  like  holiday  soldiers  —  fierce 
people  on  parade — are  seldom  the  performing  per 
sons  in  the  day  of  battle.  On  such  occasions,  if  they 
do  not  wholly  keep  out  of  sight,  they  very  soon  con 
vict  themselves  of  incompetence  or  imbecility,  and 
are  summarily  dismissed,  by  shot  or  scorn,  to  their 
more  appropriate  places.  Mediocrity  seems  to  be 
the  great  misfortune  of  present  statesmanship.  It 
is  doubtful  where  to  find  the  leading  mind  equal  to 
the  occasion,  as  it  now  threatens,  equally,  perhaps, 
in  Great  Britain,  America,  and  France.  As  the 
storm  advances,  and  the  danger  presses,  the  penalty 
will  have  to  be  paid  by  each  of  these  nations  for  the 
feeble  conduct  into  which  they  have  suffered  them 
selves  to  fall.  But  this  very  penalty,  terribly  en 
forced,  betrays  the  careful  concern  of  Providence. 
But  for  the  chastening  we  should  not  have  the  care, 
and  the  penalty  must  precede  the  forgiveness.  The 
true  man  will  succeed  the  imbecile — the  king-man, 
born  for  rule — and  the  storm  will  cease  at  the  simple 
waving  of  his  hand.  The  good  ship,  with  a  good 
pilot  at  the  helm,  will  reach  her  harborage.  A  sick 
nation,  like  a  sick  man,  must  be  physicked,  let  blood, 
perhaps,  and  will  suffer  from  nausea,  exhaustion  and 
other  evil  concomitants,  before  it  entirely  recovers. 


112  EGEEIA. 

But,  in  all  probability,  it  will  recover.  The  greatest 
misfortune,  then,  and  the  one  that  it  will  remember 
longest,  is  the  heavy  bill  of  expenses  which  is  to 

follow. 

<• 

PRIVILEGES  OF  BEES  ENVIED. 

The  fancy,  in  the  following  epigram  from  the 
Spanish,  seems  to  me  very  prettily  conceived.  I  do 
not  know  how  far  my  version  will  commend  it  to 
other  fancies. 

Once  when  Olivia,  in  her  mouth 

A  lovely  flower  had  placed,  there  came — 
Seeking  his  beauties  of  the  South — 

A  bee  that  stung  the  lips  to  flame, 
Confounding,  as  he  well  might  do, 
Their  roses  with  the  flow'ret's  hue. 
— Ah!  had  my  lips  instead  of  his, 

Been  suffered  there  awhile  to  hang, 
Mine  not  alone  had  felt  the  bliss, 

Nor  thine,  alone,  the  parting  pang. 

So  it  appears  to  me,  is  the  following,  which  is 
from  the  Spanish  also  : 

"  Teresa's  eyes,  so  brilliant  are  and  black, 

That  your  own  fail  you  at  the  first  attack." 
"  Black  should  they  be,"  a  suffering  victim  spoke, 
"  If  but  in  mourning  for  the  hearts  they've  broke." 


EUERIA. 


PURPOSE. 

To  be  infirm  of  purpose,  is  to  be  evil  of  purpose. 
A  strong  will,  if  not  absolutely  virtue  itself,  is  yet 
absolutely  necessary  to  all  the  virtues.  He  who 
does  not  resolve  well,  will  perform  ill.  Weakness 
of  resolve  is  mostly  wickedness.  Indecision  of 
character  is  laxity  of  principle.  It  leaves  the  mind 
at  the  mercy  of  the  passions  ;  and  impulse,  which  is 
seldom  found  associated  with  a  rigid  will,  is  quite  as 
unsteady  in  principle  as  in  performance.  Such  a 
character  works  precipitately  and  rashly,  with  the 
purpose  of  concealing  the  deficiency  of  which  he  is 
himself  conscious.  He  thus  frequently  precipitates 
himself  in  action,  which  he  dare  not  subject  to  argu 
ment.  He  may  tremble  at  the  danger  which  im 
pends,  but  he  dreads  still  more  lest  you  should  sus 
pect  the  true  nature  of  his  fears. 

TO  FORTUNE. 

Sylla  wisely  deferred  to  Fortune,  modestly  dis 
claiming  all  merit  in  himself,  and  claiming  to  have 
succeeded  only  by  the  succor  of  the  Goddess  of 
Caprice.  In  buying  a  lottery  ticket,  I  flattered 
myself  that  the  adoption  of  Sylla's  moral,  would 
conduct  me  to  success  also,  ft  in;iy  bo  that  the 
16 


114  EGERIA. 

plea  which  I  put  in  was  not  sufficiently  humble  as  a 
petition  ; — it  may  be  that  I  somewhat  lacked  faith 
in  my  own  prayers.  At  all  events,  I  got  nothing 
for  my  pains,  but  the  twenty-five  dollars  which  a 
magazine  publisher  paid  me  for  my  ode. 

ODE    TO   FORTUNE    ON    BUYING   A   LOTTERY   TICKET. 


COY  damsel ! — as  they  call  thee — if  in  truth, 
And  if  no  damsel,  prithee,  let  us  know, 

How  we  may  style  thee — whether  age  or  youth 
With  snows  or  roses  decorates  your  brow  ; 

I  would  be  proper  in  approach — good  sooth, 
Is  there  not  reason  for  my  neatest  bow  ? — 

Ten  thousand  dollars  ! — To  a  Bard  that's  poor 

Ten  thousand  Muses  could  not  offer  more. 


ii. 


More  ! — but  we  will  not  mock  thee  to  compare 
The  gifts  of  Helicon  and  song  with  thine  ; — 

Muses  are  well  enough — choice  maids,  most  rare, — 
And,  when  consenting,  every  inch  divine ; 

But  thou  hast  gifts  and  beauties — thou  art  fair 
In  very  different  fashion  from  the  Nine, 


EGERIA.  115 

Ask  John  J.  Astor,  Girard,  and  the  rest,* 
They  d — n  the  latter,  but  declare  thee  blest ! 


in. 


And  rightly  !     Thou   hast  blessed  them.     In  thy 
face, 

They  saw  the  proper  goddess,  and  were  down, 
Early  and  late,  in  every  market  place, 

Flat  on  their  marrow  bones,  before  the  town  ; 
They  knew  the  way  to  work  into  thy  grace, 

Secure  thy  favor  and  escape  thy  frown  ; 
Though  other  dames  reproached  and  damsels  mut 
tered, 
They  stuck  to  her  by  whom  their  bread  was  buttered. 

IV. 

Wise  fellows  in  their  season  !     Witness  thou, 
Potential  Gotham  ! — in  thy  halls  of  trade ; 

And  thou,  fair  Quaker,  that  by  Schuylkill  now, 
Sitt'st  mourning — though  in  best  of  silks  arrayed ; 

Have  ye  not  temples,  that  with  lordly  brow, 
Loom  o'er  your  walls,  and  from  afar  persuade, 

*  The  millionaires,  par  excellence,  of  Philadelphia  and  New 
York. 


116  EGERIA. 

Equally  well,  as  if  upon  each  crest, 
Were   written, — "Hither   come  and  imvardly  di 
gest."* 


I've  got  by  heart  the  moral  of  this  lesson, 

And   know  the   goddess  now   should   have   my 
prayer : — 

Thee,  Fortune, — thee  I  seek, — and  with  best  dress 

on, 
Before  thy  golden  altars  I  appear  ; 

No  muses  now  for  me — no  more  I  press  on, 
Their  garden  height  of  Helicon — my  care, 

Is  for  one  mistress  only ; — this  dividing 

One's  love  'mongst  nines  a  bad  way  of  providing. 

VI. 

Long  have  I  sung  their  beauties — until  now, 
Sung  vainly,  and  deplore  my  wasted  themes  ;| 

Henceforth,  for  thee  alone,  I  scratch  my  brow, 
Provoke  my  fancies  and  prepare  my  dreams  ; 

*  A  motto  certainly  equally  appropriate  to  college  and  chop- 
house. 

f  Query  ;  Reams  ? — Printer's  Devil. 


EGEKIA.  117 

Oh  !  thine  are  charms  to  bid  one-'s  numbers  flow, 
Restore  one's  credit  in  this  world  of  schemes, 
Enable  him  all  doubtful  paths  to  shun, 
And  fill  with  new-born  faith  both  creditor  and  dun. 

VII. 

I  am  your  humble  servant !     Scarce  acquainted, 
I  am  your  friend, — nor  wonder  that  'tis  so ; 

By  friend  and  foe  alike,  so  brightly  painted, 
In  Astor's  palace  seen,  and  Girard's  Row, 

I  could  not  rest  until  I  was  presented 
And  for  this  pleasant  introduction  to, — 

Your  premises — I'm  still  without  the  gate — 

I've  paid  five  dollars,  money  of  this  state.* 


VIII. 


Against  this  bargain  nothing  I  inveigh, 
I  will  not  say  that  it  had  been  as  well, 

And  far  more  liberal  to  demand  no  pay 

From  one  whose  desk  was  never  known  to  swell 

With  aught  but  tale,  and  song,  and  antique  lay — 
Commodities  too  highly  priced  to  sell  ! 

*  Which  state  ?     The  question  is  in  repudiation  times,  an  im 
portant  one. 


118  EGERIA. 

I  do  not  grudge  the  money — but  my  loathing 
Will  follow,  if  my  venture  comes  to  nothing. 


Better  than  this  to  have  me  at  thy  feet, 
Full  of  thy  favor,  joyous  in  thy  care, 

And  with  a  song — declaring  of  the  sweet, 
Thee  sweetest  still,  and  fairest  of  the  fair  ; 

Than  bitterness  of  angry  Bard  to  greet, 

Denounced,  as  thou  hast  been,  for  many  a  year, 

Blindest  of  powers  that  be,  for  aye  bestowing, 

Thy  bounties  on  the  biggest  booby  going. 

X. 

From  this  would  I  redeem  thee. — I  would  sing 
Thy  judgment — that  discriminating  sense, 

Beyond  bamboozlement  of  human  thing, 
Most  worthily  dispensing  of  thy  pence  ; 

Sending  thy  couriers  forth  on  tireless  wing, 
Searching  out  merit,  worth,  and  excellence, 

Seeking,  as  the  recipients  of  thy  pelf, 

All  clever  good,  young  persons — like  myself. 

XI. 

I'll  be  your  laureate — each  returning  year, 

Meet  your  approach  with  birth-day  ode  and  lay, 


EGERIA.  119 

And  celebrate  your  beauties  in  the  clear, 
And  entertain  your  bounties  in  the  clay  ; — 

Tell  of  your  youth  beside — your  face  how  fair, 
For  ever  bright  with  eye  of  golden  ray — 

Your  various  parts  of  excellence  rehearse, 

Your  various  gifts  of  person  and — of  purse. 

XII. 

All  this,  for  such  a  very  paltry  sum — 

Ten  thousand  dollars  ! — By  my  soul,  I  fear 

Lest  scorn  of  such  a  trifle  keep  you  dumb  : 

Too  low  the  homage,  will  the  Goddess  hear  ? — 

Then  make  it  twenty — thirty — let  them  come — 
The  English  Cross,  the  Mexic  cavalier, 

I'll  meet  a  host  of  such,  whate'er  their  color 

Or  stamp — the  Spanish  onze,  or  coarse  white  homely 
dollar. 

XIII. 

Ha  !  Ha  !  the  happy  renegades — I  see  'em, 
In  my  mind's  eye  ;  in  gold  and  silver  trim  ; 

The  doubloon  bright — the  lordly  Joe — survey  'em 
Brave  eagle,  with  an  aspect  awful  grim  ; 

And  what  are  these,   with   "  promises  to  pay" — 

Hem! 
In  squads  of  five  and  ten,  with  colors  dim — 


120  EGERIA. 

Bank  notes,  indeed,  methinks  I'll  make  the  most  of 

'em, 
At  least,  you'll  find  I'm  equal  to  a  host  of  'em. 

XIV. 

Oh,  lady — Queen  of  mine — how  bright  this  vision, 
Do  thou  confirm  it  all.     My  calculation, 

Based  on  thy  wisdom,  and  this  dream  Elysian, 
Has  made  me  face  a  mountain  of  vexation — 

I  spoke  my  creditors  with  calm  decision, 
"  Meet  me  to-morrow  at  a  cold  collation" — 

And  cold  enough  'twill  be  for  them  and  me  too, 

Unless  'twill  please  you  the  cold  meats  to  see  to. 

XV. 

A  jail's  a  hateful  thing — its  architecture 

Is  in  a  style  I  never  could  abide  ; 
A  tailor's  bill's  a  thing  beyond  conjecture, 

Beyond  all  measure  long,  all  breeches  wide ; 
And  for  the  sheriff — let  him  once  detect  your 

Uncertain  standing,  he  is  at  your  side — 
A  certain  hold,  until  he  finds  you  lodging 
In  some  dark  quarter,  beyond  debt  or  dodging. 

XVI. 

No  more  of  this — this  prospect's  none  of  ours — 
Fair  Queen  of  Fortune,  unto  you  I  fly — 


EGERIA.  121 

Mcthinks  this  ticket  leads  me  to  jour  bowers, 
These  mystic  numbers — do  I  hear  them  sigh 

The  "open  sesame  ?" — are  such  their  powers, 
To  force  the  vault — the  want  to  satisfy, 

Silence  the  dun — provide  the  fond  desire  ? — 

Else  fate  confound  ye,  Yates  and  Mclntire.* 

WILL. 

But  there  must  be  a  strong  will  wherever  a  reform 
is  to  be  eifected.  All  virtue,  to  have  any  real  value, 
to  be  made  available  to  any  useful  purpose,  must  be 
coupled  with  a  large  degree  of  courage.  Our  hope 
is  in  this  fact,  as  it  suggests  a  distinct  argument  to 
the  pride  of  the  people  required  to  perform.  We 
must  be  bold  and  resolute,  even  to  attempt  what  we 
think  necessary.  But  the  most  essential  courage, 
in  all  reforms  of  a  moral  nature,  is,  first,  to  make 
just  confession  of  our  own  deficiencies.  Could  we 
always  have  the  daring  to  admit  that  we  only  are 
what  each  one  knows  himself  to  be !  This,  and  no 
more,  as  the  times  go,  calls  for  a  more  than  ordi 
nary  degree  of  hardihood.  Few  of  us  are  willing 
to  admit  that  our  neighbors  can  excel  us  in  any  re- 

*  Famous  lottery  dealers. 
11 


122  EGBRIA. 

spect.  How  seldom  do  we  hear  the  confession  that 
one  cannot  afford  to  do  what  is  done  by  others. 
Who  confesses  his  inability  to  do  this,  and  to  buy 
that  ? — to  achieve  this  conquest,  or  enjoy  that  luxu 
ry  ?  This  miserable  cowardice,  the  progeny  of 
vanity  wholly,  runs  through  the  entire  circle  of  so 
ciety.  The  miserable  trinkets  which  decorate  our 
persons  ; — our  riotous  and  lavish  modes  of  living  ; 
— the  constant  changes  of  dress  and  furniture ; — 
the  costliness  of  the  material  employed  for  both ; — 
these,  with  a  thousand  other  heads  of  expenditure, 
have  become  almost  universal  sins  among  us.  The 
conceited  husband  operates  upon  the  money  market, 
and  fancies  that,  by  a  judicious  nod  of  the  head,  or 
bend  of  the  finger,  which  he  alone  knows  how  to 
make  at  the  right  season,  he  has  possessed  himself 
of  Aladdin's  treasure.  That  butterfly  being,  his 
wife,  would  persuade  the  world,  by  her  gold  and 
purple  exhibitions,  that  all  his  fancies  are  facts. 
The  son  rates  himself,  under  the  same  happy  sys 
tem,  as  a  millionaire,  and  spends  like  one  ;  and  the 
daughter,  if  the  boarding  schools  have  not  already 
done  all  the  mischief,  soon  proves  that  the  task  is 
one  which  society  cannot  find  it  difficult  to  perform. 
And  what,  for  a  season,  at  least,  shall  possibly  set 


EGERIA.  123 

a  limit  to  the  money  follies,  and  the  world  follies, 
and  the  head  and  heart  follies  of  all  these  foolish 
people  ?  Nothing  but  that  blight,  as  inevitable  as 
the  frost  to  the  flower  at  the  usual  season,  which 
bites  the  precocious  mushroom  to  the  root,  and  con 
signs  it  to  a  poverty  for  which  no  preparation  has  been 
made.  The  whole  life  of  such  people  is  a  lie,  and 
must  continue  a  hopeless  lie,  until  they  gain  sufficient 
moral  courage  to  act  the  truth  boldly,  and  to  appear 
only  in  habits  of  the  truth.  But,  most  of  these 
evils,  evils  of  the  meanest  vanity,  arise  from  exag 
gerations  of  trade ;  the  illusions  of  which,  like 
those  of  Oriental  fable,  beguile  and  bewilder,  until 
all  the  standards  of  comparison  are  utterly  lost ;  and 
the  poor  dreamer,  like  some  painted  vessel,  with 
flags  flying,  and  all  sails  spread,  rushes  on,  uncon 
scious,  careering,  proud,  headlong  into  the  dismal 
Maelstrom,  which  is  a  real  vortex,  to  be  found  in 
every  human  sea. 

INSTINCTS  OF  MEN. 

One  of  the  great  but  secret  causes  of  human  fail 
ure  and  perversion,  is  the  reluctance  of  men  to 
recognise  their  instincts.  The  pride  of  intellect  is 
not  willing  to  refer  to  any  other  authority  than 


124  EGERIA. 

reason,  and  we  begin  the  work  of  self-sophistication 
on  the  very  threshold  of  existence.  Of  the  simplest 
objects  we  contrive  to  fashion  mysteries — of  the  sim 
plest  arts,  sciences — and  the  very  things  of  which 
nature  would  seem  to  require  of  us  the  immediate 
personal  performance,  we  strangely  enough  defer  to 
a  foreign  authority.  What  more  completely  our 
own  providence  than  our  own  feelings  and  health, 
our  own  rights  and  interests,  our  own  spiritual  na 
ture  and  religion?  Yet  all  these  concerns,  which 
can  be  attended  to  by  nobody  half  so  properly  as 
by  ourselves,  we  studiously  put  out  of  our  own  con 
trol.  Hence,  our  lawyer  can  give  us  the  most  com 
plicated  and  admirable  system  of  laws,  but  no  justice ; 
our  doctor,  the  most  variously  compounded  medi 
cines,  but  no  cure  ;  our  priest,  every  variety  of 
doctrine,  but  no  religion — certainly  no  safety.  But, 
even  the  farmer,  sophisticating  like  the  rest,  in  his 
ambition  to  make  a  science  of  his  art,  too  frequently 
fails  in  making  a  crop.  Yet,  it  is  very  certain  that 
nothing  in  the  world  is  so  easy  of  attainment  as  food, 
health,  justice,  and  religion,  if  we  will  only,  with 
common  honesty  and  diligence,  take  the  matter  into 
our  own  hands.  The  things  most  esssential  to  all, 
not  only  to  the  health  and  happiness,  but  to  the 


EUERIA.  125 

absolute  safety  of  man,  were  never  intended  by  the 
Deity  to  be  withdrawn  from  his  own  immediate  con 
trol  ;  and  man  will  never  know  safety  in  any  of  his 
interests  until  he  resumes  all  the  privileges  he  has 
blindly  parted  with.  It  seems  to  be  clear,  that 
among  his  personal  duties  are  these :  he  must  earn 
his  own  bread — learn  his  own  bodily  condition — 
what  is  its  meat  and  what  is  its  poison — farm  his  own 
lands,  and  carry  on  his  own  intercourse  with  heaven, 
to  the  employment  of  as  few  intermediate  agents  as 
possible.  Individuality,  and  hence,  individual  re 
sponsibility,  is  the  grand  feature  which  distinguishes 
man  from  every  other  animal. 

SAXON  EPIGRAMS. 

The  Saxon  muse  is  not  endowed  with  a  playful 
wit.  Her  most  merry  moods  have  a  spice  of  earnest 
ness,  that  is  very  like  ferocity.  English  wit  does 
not  skim  over  the  surface.  It  does  not  merely  dip 
its  wing  like  the  osprey.  It  dives  deep.  It  strikes 
hard.  Its  play  is  most  generally  horse-play.  It 
does  not  love  mere  witticisms.  It  not  only  breaks 
the  skin,  but  leaves  salt  behind  it  in  the  wound. 
The  place  smarts  long  after  the  stroke  is  given.  In 
this  respect  it  seems  to  differ  largely  from  the  humor 
11* 


126  EGERIA. 

of  the  Continent,  which  merely  ruffles  the  surface 
of  one's  good  nature,  and  passes  off  with  a  wing  as 
light  and  sportive  as  the  butterfly.  The  leaven  of 
Puritanism — a  stern  keenness — an  acrid  resentment 
— seems  to  distinguish  most  English  and  American 
epigrams.  Here  follows  a  batch,  marked  clearly,  if 
not  absolutely  engendered,  by  this  spirit.  It  is  a 
spirit  of  sarcasm  and  satire  rather  than  of  wit  and 
humor ;  though  it  has  more  point  than  belongs  to 
the  epigram  of  the  classics.  The  first  following, 
seems  to  me  to  suggest  a  terrible  picture  of  a  heart 
less,  malignant  man. 

TOM'S    ASSOCIATES. 

Tom's  choice,  in  fellowship  and  friends — 

Behold  his  levee's  silent  throngs ; 
Bad  measures,  meant  for  viler  ends, 

Foul  thoughts  and  meditated  wrongs: 
All  passions  bow,  all  base  desires, 

And  prejudices,  monster-grown, 
Crowd  to  the  salon  of  his  sires, 

Yet  Tom  is  in  his  house,  alone ! 

Here  follows  another  of  the  same  school  and  tem 
per  : 


EGERIA.  127 

TOM'S    CHARITY. 

Tom's  charity, — of  most  enormous  size, 
Is  unrestrained  by  common  laws  of  pelf; 

He  pampers  that  all  other  men  despise, 

The  vilest  of  all  worthless  things — himself! 

"  Poor  Tom"  gets  it  again,  on  the  score  of  another 
of  his  virtues. 

TOM'S  OPINION. 

Tom  holds  me  quite  unworthy  of  his  thought, 
But  such  a  notion  makes  me  nothing  grim, 

For,  do  you  see,  I  all  along  have  taught 
That  Tom's  opinion's  only  worthy  him. 

If  Tom  is  not  perfectly  satisfied  with  these  demon 
strations  of  the  epigrammatist,  here  follows  some 
thing  evidently  intended  to  give  the  coup  de  grace. 

TOM'S    SELF-ESTEEM. 

Tom  says,  "  on  such  as  me,  he  still  looks  down," — 
I  doubt  not  this,  provided  he  can  show, 

That,  in  the  moral  pillory  of  the  town, 
The  scoundrel  may  see  anything  below. 

WOE.     AN  APOLOGUE. 

A  voice  was  heard  crying  from  the  wilderness, 
and  it  came,  saying  : — "  My  name  is  Woe  !  Fain 


128  EUEKIA. 

would  I  make  my  home  among  the  rocks  !  There 
would  I  find  fellowship — there,  by  the  lonely,  ever- 
sounding  sea — in  the  deep  tracts  of  the  wasted 
desert !  But  a  will  beyond  my  own,  sends  me 
abroad  among  the  habitations  of  men.  I  traverse 
the  highways — I  pass  into  the  cities — I  must  still 
seek  the  dwellings  of  man — I  must  dog  his  foot 
steps." 

And  the  people  of  the  cities  strove  in  terror  when 
they  heard  the  accents  of  that  hollow-sounding  voice. 
A  deep  fear  fell  upon  all  hearts.  Some  crossed  the 
seas  in  flight,  some  fled  up  into  the  mountains  where 
the  gray  bird,  among  the  sharp  bald  cliffs,  builds  his 
eyrie,  and  fancies  himself  secure.  Others  again 
took  shelter  among  the  caves,  where  the  adder  hides 
and  hisses.  But  the  voice  went  with  them  into  the 
caves,  and  upon  the  mountains,  and  it  followed  the 
fugitives  upon  the  great  highway  of  the  seas. 

And  thus,  once  more,  the  voice  was  heard  to  com 
plain  : — "  Sorrowful  and  sleepless  is  this  toil !  Fain 
would  I  return  to  the  wilderness ;  fain  would  I  rest 
me  beside  the  ever-sounding  shore — on  the  sharp 
crags  of  the  black  icy  mountain — hearkening  to 
mournful  winds  that  traverse  the  gray  desert  with 
out  rest;  I  would  dwell  only  in  dark  and  silent 


EGERIA.  129 

places  !  I  am  of  the  brood  of  the  unlovely  and  the 
unloving  !  I  seek  the  cloudy  and  the  sad  !  Give 
me  voices  from  the  storm  and  from  the  starless 
night !  These  better  suit  me  than  the  crowd  and 
the  laughing  city !" 

Then,  another  voice  was  heard,  feebler  and  sadder 
than  his  own.  It  rose  sudden  beside  him,  even 
where  he  sat,  crouching  by  a  hearth  where  the  fire 
had  gone  out  in  ashes,  and  there  was  no  more  heat. 
The  voice  was  human  like  his  own !  and  she  who 
spoke  rose  ; — a  woman,  gaunt  and  wretched  : — and 
she  crawled  from  beneath  the  gray  folds  of  his 
mantle,  where  she  had  lain  unseen ;  and  she  stood 
up  before  the  shape,  looking  him  boldly  in  his  blank 
visage.  These  were  her  words  : — "  And  wherefore 
shouldst  thou  yearn  for  the  loneliness  of  the  rocks 
and  seas ;  the  pathless  desert,  and  the  many-sound 
ing  shore !  Thou  hast  brought  hither  a  deeper 
loneliness.  Thou  hast  made  the  city  a  likeness 
unto  them.  From  sea,  rock,  and  desert,  the  deso 
lation  all  fled  when  thou  didst  take  thy  departure. 
The  loneliness  belongs  only  to  thee.  Wouldst  thou 
fly  from  thyself !  Thou  canst  not  fly  from  me ! 
Thou  hast  made  me  thine.  Thou  hast  wedded  me 
with  a  fearful  sign  ;  the  earth  bears  proof  of  our 


130  EGERIA. 

bridal !  Henceforth  thou  art  mine  for  ever.  Thou 
hast  left  me  none  other  than  thee.  Thou  shalt 
never  leave  me  more  !" 

And  she  crawled  once  more  beneath  the  gray  folds 
of  his  heavy  mantle ;  and,  in  silence,  with  his  iron 
staff,  Woe  stirred  the  dull  ashes  upon  the  hearth ;  and 
he  no  longer  yearned  for  the  loneliness  of  the  sound 
ing  sea,  the  bald  rock,  and  the  pathless  desert,  for 
he  felt  that  a  greater  loneliness  was  there  ! 

VENERATION. 

Shall  we  not  give,  of  all  the  past  has  brought  us, 

A  something  to  the  future  ? 
Your  father  left  you  a  most  noble  statue, 

The  chiselled  work  of  Phidias ; 
You  have  a  son  that  one  day  will  demand  it — 

'Twas  left  in  trust  to  you. 
'Twas  not  alone  your  wealth — it  did  belong 

To  all  your  grandsire's  family. 
He  had  a  thought,  when  dying,  that  looked  forward, 

To  countless  heirs  and  ages — 
No  limit  stopped  the  wish  of  the  immortal, 

His  eye,  from  the  dim  summit, 
Had  glimpses  of  the  vast  eternity — 

His  foot  was  on  its  threshold. 


EUERIA.  131 

Where  are  his  noble  lands,  his  fine  old  mansion, 

The  grounds,  the  garden — all, 
He  took  such  pains  to  cultivate  and  finish, — 

Have  passed  away  to  strangers — 
His  children  wander  into  foreign  countries, 

Their  toils  and  deeds  ignoble — 
'Twas  you  that  robbed  them  of  their  heritage, 

The  old  familiar  images, 
That,  in  the  flight  of  ages,  grow  to  teachers, 

And  lift  the  soul  that  listens. 
Exiled  from  home  and  fortune,  they  are  exiles 

From  places  that  were  holy, 
Till  they  have  none  of  the  old  religion  left, 

And  fly  the  ancient  temples. 
Traitor  to  trusts,  that  hope  and  love  had  hallowed, 

And  age  had  made  most  sacred, — 
Answer  !  the  shadows  of  old  time  demand  it, 

And  summon  for  the  future — 
Thou  hast  been  false  to  both,  hast  lived  for  neither, 

But  to  the  selfish  present  hast  devoted 
The  rights  of  time — go,  profligate — make  answer 

To  the  eternity,  and  hear  thy  doom. 
As  thou  hast  lived  but  for  thyself,  go  perish, 

There  is  no  need  of  thee, — 
Nor  God,  nor  man,  nor  time,  eternity, 

Neither  have  need  of  thee. 


132  EGERIA. 

APOLOGUE  OF  GENIUS. 

"  Genius,"  said  the  Eastern  magian,  "  was  from 
the  first  an  exile ;  was  born  afar  from  his  parental 
home ;  his  birthplace  was  within  the  tangled  maze 
of  an  interminable  forest ;  neglect  and  sorrow  were 
his  handmaids,  and  he  nursed  at  the  breast  of  denial. 
Though  born  with  wings,  he  was  yet  without  hands." 
The  apologue  is  meant  to  exhibit  the  utter  destitu 
tion  of  the  child,  who  is  at  the  same  time  inspired 
by  an  ambition  which  makes  him  forever  restless, 
and  impatient  of  restraint.  Without  hands,  he  is 
unequal  to  the  task  of  providing  for  himself,  in  the 
struggles  of  his  fellow-men.  In  a  forest,  without  a 
guide,  he  is  in  perpetual  bewilderment ;  and  the  sole 
object  of  his  aim  and  endeavor,  is  the  glory  of  that 
blue  sphere  which  he  discovers  in  the  brief  openings 
of  the  trees  above  him.  His  inspiration  and  his 
native  home  are  alike  imaged  by  his  wings.  The 
philosopher  continues  :  "  his  sole  endeavor  is  to  ex 
tricate  himself  from  the  labyrinth  in  wrhich  he  is 
involved,  and  regain  the  dwelling  for  which  his  fate 
had  designed  him,  and  which  smiles  down  so  attrac 
tively  upon  him.  Without  hands,  every  branch  and 
vine  forms  an  insurmountable  impediment,  and  all 


EGERIA.  133 

in  vain  does  his  feet  seek  out  a  beaten  pathway. 
The  only  means  left  him  is  to  leap  up  into  the  sky, 
and  thus  attain  the  far  prospect  which  his  inward 
spirit  prompts  him  to  claim  and  consider  his  own. 
But  the  boughs  are  so  intimately  intertwined  above, 
that  all  his  efforts  are  fruitless,  and  he  is  always 
beaten  back :  after  a  short  life  of  protracted  strug 
gles  for  his  freedom  and  enlargement,  he  sinks  down 
despondingly  upon  the  earth  which  denied  him  a 
home,  but  willingly  furnishes  a  grave."  Then,  uas 
the  sage  pursues  his  picture,  comes  autumn,"  whom 
he  describes  as  "  a  gentle  and  melancholy  matron, 
with  a  sadly  sweet  sorrow,  who  bending  the  branches 
closely  above,  and  strewing  the  sere  leaves  over  him, 
performs  for  him  the  offices  which  all  other  hands 
have  withheld.  In  course  of  years,  men,  mortified 
by  self-rebuke,  gather  about  the  frail  shelter,  and 
build  one  of  stone  in  its  place ;  but,  methinks,"  con 
tinued  the  sage,  "  the  flowers  and  leaves  had  been 
the  more  fitting  memorial,  since  they  tell  of  a  bloom 
and  beauty  which  were  unrivalled ;  a  shrinking  spirit 
which  the  storms  crushed ;  and  of  an  odor  which 
survives,  and  even  hallows  decay." 
12 


134  EGERIA. 

LEARN  TO  FORGET. 

The  following  is  a  paraphrase,  rather  than  a 
translation,  from  the  Italian  of  Maffei.  "  Learn  to 
forget' '  is  the  lesson  it  conveys, — an  imperfect  moral, 
perhaps,  since  it  is  scarcely  possible  that  any  expe 
rience  is  decreed  us  only  to  be  discarded. 

Why  ever  thus,  0!  beautiful  but  grieving, 

Still  silent  in  thy  sorrow,  drooping  lone, 
Even  as  that  genius.  Fate  is  still  bereaving, 

That  broods,  with  hooded  eyes,  above  the  burial  stone. 

Ah !  should  the  rose,  by  insect  tribes  forsaken, 

Those  gay,  capricious  libertines  of  flowers, — 
Should  she  with  grief,  for  such  as  these,  o'ertaken, 

Lose,  in  her  tears,  the  hues,  bright  hues  which  make  her  powers. 

Sweet,  sad  one !  learn  forgetfulness,  and  gladden, 

In  each  new  winglet  Hope  delights  to  bring ; 
To  brood  o'er  cruel  memories  is  to  madden, 

With  snakes  that  round  the  heart  still  ever  wind  and  sting. 

Dear  one,  forget! — or  think  that  the  worst  anguish, 

Is  still  a  blessing  sent  thee  by  our  God : 
Either  oblivion's  draught,  and  cease  to  languish, 

Or  meekly  take  thy  cup,  and  lowly  kiss  thy  rod. 

REVERIE. 

To  think  without  a  purpose  is  quite  as  bad  as  to 


EGERIA.  135 

act  without  a  purpose.  Reverie  is  no  doubt  very 
pleasant,  and  has  its  uses,  when  indulged  in  after 
the  day  V  work  is  over.  But  reverie,  which  takes 
the  place  of  day's  work,  leaves  the  mind  in  a  con 
tinual  state  of  twilight.  Men  who  thus  indulge,  are 
usually  fidgetty  and  feeble ;  filled  with  notions  in 
stead  of  thoughts :  chasing  shadows  instead  of 
realities ;  with  new  theories  every  day ;  new  wonders 
every  dawning ;  abandoning  their  objects  the  moment 
they  conceive  them,  and  employing  themselves  in 
life  with  no  more  aim  than  the  boy  who  chases  but 
terflies,  or  the  little  girl,  who  fills  her  apron  with 
shells,  upon  the  beach,  only  to  throw  them  away 
again. 

NATURAL  IDEA  OF  GOD. 

Man  has  always  found  it  more  easy  to  conceive 
the  idea  of  God  than  of  a  system.  It  is  much  more 
easy  to  suppose  that  some  one  made  the  world,  than 
simply  that  the  world  was  made.  Our  difficulty, 
which  was  small  in  conceiving  the  principle,  increases 
wonderfully  when  we  inquire  into  the  processes. 


136  EGEEIA. 

VIGILANCE. 

A    FRAGMENT    OF   A   DRAMA. 

No  more  of  this  !     So  well  thou  playest  honest, 
That,  but  for  painful  past  experience, 
I  still  had  trusted  to  thy  soothing  speech, 
And  been  thy  victim  thrice.     But,  wronged  be 
fore, 

Mine  is  an  instinct  that,  forgiving  wrong, 
Loses  no  jot  of  vigilance  and  watch, 
When  he,  the  fox,  that  robbed  me  of  my  bird, 
Still  prowls  about  my  threshold.     We  are  here, 
All  wakeful,  while  the  watch-dog  on  the  hearth, 
With  lifted  nostril,  ready  for  the  scent, 
Shows  his  white  teeth,  and  .growls  at  thy  dis 
course. 

His  instinct,  like  mine  own  experience, 
Wakes  ever,  with  thy  coming  to  our  home. 

USES  OF  WEALTH. 

Wealth  is  only  legitimate  because  of  its  uses. 
The  legitimate  uses  of  wealth  depend  clearly  upon 
the  capacity  and  the  aims  of  the  person  who  em 
ploys  it.  When  you  employ  wealth  in  jewels,  what 
passion  is  it  that  you  gratify  ?  It  might  be  said 


EGERIA.  137 

the  love  of  the  beautiful,  if  such  decorations  were 
usually  employed  in  good  taste.  But  the  jewel  to 
be  beautiful  need  not  trim  the  person.  Used  for 
this  purpose,  it  is  clearly  the  passion  of  vanity — the 
most  inordinate  and  the  most  universal  of  human 
passions — that  we  gratify,  and  not  the  taste  for  the 
beautiful. 

SOULS  FOR  TRIAL. 

Our  customary  phrase,  speaking  of  the  Revolu 
tion,  is  to  describe  it  as  "  the  time  that  tried  men's 
souls."  Perhaps  we  should  better  describe  it  as  the 
time  when  men's  souls  were  to  be  tried — when  there 
were  souls — souls  of  might,  and  stern  purpose,  and 
unbending  courage.  All  times  are  calculated  to  try 
men's  souls.  Life,  itself,  is  a  sort  of  moral  revolu 
tion  ;  full  of  transitions,  strifes,  exactions,  trials : 
and  we  only  remark  periods  in  history  by  the  pre 
sence  of  such  superior  souls  as  give  character  to 
events,  and  make  the  trials  of  times  subservient  to 
the  moral  purposes  of  man.  If  we  look  at  the  his 
tory  of  the  United  States,  its  moral  rather  than  its 
political  history,  we  shall  see  that  the  souls  that 
were  tried  by  the  American  Revolution  were  the 
unwonted  growth  of  successive  centuries.  Such 
12* 


138  EGERIA. 

souls  do  not  spring  up  annually,  into  existence, 
under  those  regularly  recurring  laws  upon  which  we 
build  in  the  production  of  ordinary  crops.  They 
are  the  representatives  of  all  that  the  human  mind 
has  been  realizing,  in  the  struggle  and  toils  of  long 
periods  before — periods  in  which,  from  the  general 
stagnation  of  moral  purpose,  there  would  seem  to 
have  been  no  souls  at  all.  They  seem  to  be 
the  aggregation  of  the  social  strength,  the  social 
intellect,  the  wisdom  and  the  resolution,  which, 
scattered  in  small  particles  throughout  a  nation, 
are  nothing,  and  produce  nothing,  until  brought 
together  for  performance  in  the  person  of  some  one 
strong-minded  individual.  It  was  not  until  some 
four  hundred  years  of  Egyptian  bondage,  of  brick- 
making  without  straw,  that  the  wondrous  great  soul, 
which,  in  human  language,  we  call  Moses,  came  to 
the  rescue  of  the  Hebrews.  He  was  the  genius  of 
the  nation.  He  collected  into  himself  its  scattered 
truths.  He  digested  its  feeble,  striving,  powerless, 
and  hitherto  ineffective  strengths  !  He  showed 
himself  able  to  govern  and  to  lead  them  forth ;  and, 
from  the  moment  of  that  discovery,  his  people  could 
no  longer  be  enslaved.  And  so,  with  our  Revolu 
tionary  souls — our  prophets — the  men-gods  who 


EGERIA.  139 

were  to  guide,  and  govern,  and  lead  us  out  of  bon 
dage.  The  moment  that  the  colonists  could  produce 
from  their  own  scattered  population,  intellects  which 
could  contend  with  those  of  the  oppressor — even  as 
Moses  contended  with  the  Egyptian  priesthood — from 
that  moment  they  were  free !  Proud  are  we — proud 
we  should  be — of  those  stern,  brave,  fearless,  old  souls 
— our  Moseses,  our  Aarons,  our  Joshuas,  sons  of 
Nun — ay,  and  our  Miriams  too, — high-browed,  dark- 
eyed  prophetesses,  who  could  sing  for  us  songs  of 
triumph,  which  were  also  songs,  of  encouragement 
and  progress — when  our  even-tide  came  on,  and  we 
stood,  doubtful  of  our  course, — even  burdened  with 
our  new  freedom,  drinking  of  the  bitter  waters  of 
our  Marah  !  Times  for  trying  souls,  indeed  ;  but 
better  phrase  were,  "  souls  for  trying  times," — for 
all  times  ! — for,  docs  it  matter  that  those  times  are 
past — that  the  men  themselves,  the  prophets,  are 
dead  and  gone  ?  The  souls  are  still  with  us  ;  they 
cannot  pass  ;  we  could  not  lose  them  if  we  would ! 
We  too  have  our  times  of  trial.  God  send  us  souls 
again — souls  that  will  meet  the  trial  and  overcome 
it,  in  stern,  long  conflict.  The  conflict,  itself,  shall 
be  a  seasoning  for  souls ;  in  which  men-children  suck 
milk  of  might,  and  grow,  at  length,  after  repeated 


140  EGERIA. 

seasonings,  to  be  souls  like  those  that  have  van 
quished  the  enemy  before.  It  is  a  miserable  spec 
tacle  that  we  sometimes  still  see,  of  a  weak,  vast 
nation,  feeble,  faint,  striving — crying  aloud  because 
of  famine  in  the  wilderness ;  having  no  eye  to 
guide,  no  soul  to  bring  them  out  from  bondage,  to 
show  them  the  land  of  promise,  to  coerce  them  to 
the  performances  by  which  alone  it  can  be  won ! 
Such  were,  and  are,  the  great  nations  of  this  our 
Western  Continent — as  we  call  them,  the  aborigi 
nal  nations  !  They  lived,  and  perished,  and  never 
had  a  soul !  What  a  dreadful  destiny !  And 
Africa,  wTith  her  thousand  scattered  nations — will  a 
soul  ever  arise  for  her  ?  will  she  ever  see  the  truth, 
and  feel  the  truth,  and  work  out  the  truth  by  the 
only  process — work,  work,  work  !  It  is  a  solemn  in 
quiry,  but  we  have  one  like  it,  that  more  immediately 
concerns  ourselves.  Even  now,  America  is  crying 
out  for  succor  from  some  strong,  God-appointed 
soul,  to  come  to  her  rescue.  America,  North  and 
South,  though  in  different  degree — perhaps,  both 
need  the  succor  of  some  necessary  prophet.  It  is 
the  season  of  false  prophets  in  both  countries. 
False  prophets  are  numerous  enough  in  these  times, 
who  promise  all  things  and  perform  nothing.  There 


EGERIA.  141 

is  little  hope  from  the  toils  of  such  souls  as  the 
Santa  Annas,  the  Bustamentes,  the  Guerreroes,  the 
Paredes',  and — but  why  speak  of  these  mocks  in 
the  shape  of  souls,  which,  among  ourselves,  are  re 
cognised  as  the  available,  if  not  the  useful — the  ne 
cessary,  the  God-elect,  and  God-appointed.  When 
we  ask  for  the  Washingtons,  the  Henrys,  the  Frank 
lins  and  their  associates,  methinks  there  is  a  vast 
deep  blush  of  crimson  that  passes  over  the  face  of 
our  struggling  country; — not,  indeed  that  there 
are  not  prophets  among  us,  but  that  these  are  not 
what  we  demand.  We  do  not  ask  for  the  souls  that 
will  save,  but  for  those  that  will  serve  us — not  those 
whom  we  need,  but  those  who  need  us.  The  time 
needs  its  soul.  Let  our  prayer  be  that  a  soul  may 
come  in  time ! 

LOVE. 

After  all,  Love  is  the  true  life.  It  is  the  spirit, 
permeating  all  nature,  for  which,  if  we  have  a  sweet 
name,  we  have  no  definition. 

Ah!  life  were  but  a  work!,  indeed, 
Of  sin  and  suffering,  shame  and  woe, 

From  which  the  soul  were  haply  freed, 
The  hand  administ'ring  the  blow  ; 


142  EGERIA. 

Did  Love  not  come  with  angel  eye, 

And  soothing  smile,  and  breath  of'balm, 

To  dry  the  tear,  to  hush  the  sigh, 
The  guilt  atone,  the  spirit  calm. 

TIME. 

The  best  key  to  success  is  the  providence  of  Time. 
After  all,  the  most  valuable  of  our  human  posses 
sions  is  Time,  since  that  is  always  limited  in  dura 
tion.  It  follows  that  he  who  is  the  best  economist  of 
this  possession,  has  the  largest  capital  for  business 
of  any  of  his  competitors.  But  time,  of  course,  im 
plies  health,  strength,  courage,  resolution,  temper 
ance — without  which,  perhaps,  there  can  be  no  eco 
nomy  in  anything. 

NOTHING  IN  NOTHINGNESS. 

Thought  can  no  more  realize  the  idea  of  nothing 
ness  than  of  creation.  Both  must  depend  upon  re 
velation,  and  this,  which  tells  us  of  the  one,  says 
nothing  of  the  other.  Could  we  regard  Time  as  not 
a  part  of  Eternity,  it  might  be  easy  to  conceive  this 
fear.  But  I  confess,  for  my  own  part,  I  think  that 
nothing  dies.  I  am  half  of  the  opinion  of  the  red 
man — 

"  Who  thinks,  translated  to  his  native  sky, 
His  faithful  dog  shall  bear  him  company." 


EGERIA.  143 

DOMESTIC  MAGNANIMITY. 

Magnanimity  is,  perhaps,  more  important  as  a 
domestic  virtue  than  in  any  other  relation.  If  the 
love,  supposed  to  be  the  permeating  essence  pervad 
ing  the  domestic  circle,  has  not  learned  promptly  to 
forgive,  it  has  failed  to  acquire  the  very  first  lesson 
upon  which  depend  the  securities  of  household  happi 
ness. 

NIL  DESPERANDUM. 

Man  should  never  despair  of  his  resources  or  his 
race.  He  frequently  does  little  or  nothing,  because 
he  does  not  manfully  attempt  enough.  We  are  very 
sure  (and,  indeed,  the  experience  of  every  day  adds 
to  the  proof),  that  the  true  extent  of  his  powers  has 
never  yet  been  developed.  He,  himself,  is  quite  as 
much  confounded  at  his  own  achievements,  when  he 
makes  them,  as  any  of  the  spectators.  He  is 
usually  forced  to  his  best  performances  by  what  he 
vulgarly  calls  necessity.  We  might  easily  find 
another  word  and  origin  for  the  impulse  which  he 
obeys,  at  such  moments,  and  by  which  he  performs. 
Though  his  reason  trembles  to  advance,  his  blood 
bounds  to  the  consummation  of  the  unusual  tasks. 
Verily,  we  too  much  underrate  this  instinct.  What  is 


144  EGERIA. 

it  but  the  God  within  him,  throwing  aside  the  shackles 
of  clay,  the  impediments  and  doubts  and  fears  of  a 
poor  earthly  reason,  and  hurrying  him  onward — he, 
blind  the  while — under  the  unerring  guidance  of  an 
immortal  soul ! 

MORALS  OF  SORROW. 

But  for  the  sorrows  of  the  heart,  where  would  the 
affections  find  their  strength  ?  Our  virtues,  like  the 
aromatic  shrubs  of  the  forest,  only  give  out  their 
sweets  when  their  leaves  are  bruised  and  trampled. 
He  who  has  not  felt  of  sorrow,  may  be  scarcely  said 
to  have  known  love ;  since  the  most  precious  joys  of 
the  soul  arise  from  sympathies  that  are  seldom 
known  till  they  are  sought,  and  never  sought  till 
they  are  necessary  to  soothe  an  infirmity  or  satisfy 
a  need. 

HORACE  IN  DISHABILLE. 

Ode  xxiii.  ad  Pyrrham. 

TO    POLLY. 

You  fly  from  me,  Polly,  my  dear,  like  a  fawn, 
That  trembling  still  at  each  breeze  that  blows, 

Seeks  for  its  dam  on  the  mountain  bawn, 
With  a  terror  that  never  allows  repose  : 


EGEHIA.  145 

With  feeble  limbs  and  faltering  heart, 

That  shrinks  from  the  rustling  of  leafy  spring, 

And  deems  the  green  lizard,  as  bushes  part, 
Some  fearful  and  terrible  thing. 

Believe  me,  Polly,  no  tiger  wild, 

No  panther  of  Buncombe,  to  tear  you,  child  ; 

And  now  that  you're  quite  of  a  marrying  age, 
And  I'm  not  the  worst-looking  man  you  see, 

Turn  a  new  leaf  in  your  virgin  page, 

Quit  your  mamma,  and  take  lodgings  with  me. 

INSCRIPTION. 

One  sometimes  pens  an  inscription  which  is  never 
inscribed,  unless  in  the  heart  of  the  writer,  in  con 
nexion  with  the  pleasant  memories  of  the  precious 
object  who  inspires  it.  Here  is  one  of  this  sort. 

O'er  thee  we  rear  no  lofty  tomb, 

No  marble  bust  adorns  the  shrine, 
Where  Virtue's  memory  still  must  bloom, 

Immortal,  as  she  is  divine; — 
There,  in  the  affections  thou  hast  won, 

A  single  flower  to  thee  we  rear, 
First  won  to  life  by  Rapture's  sun, 

Thence  kept  in  bloom  by  Memory's  tear. 
13 


140  EGEEIA. 

LANDSCAPE. 

One  great  charm  in  the  landscape,  which  is 
never  spoken  of,  lies  in  the  fact  that  our  sight  of 
it  embodies  a  discovery.  We  find  pleasure,  it  is 
true,  from  frequently  beholding  the  beautiful ;  but 
when  the  beautiful  and  the  new  are  found  together, 
the  enjoyment  becomes  twofold,  and  the  freshness 
of  the  picture  always  heightens  its  loveliness. 

THE  COIF  AN  EMBLEM. 

The  Coif  now  used,  we  believe,  principally  by 
old  women,  was  once  the  particular  indicative  of 
learned  men.  The  sergeant's  Coif  was  a  habit  of 
exclusive  privilege  among  that  class  of  legal  practi 
tioners  in  the  time  of  Sir  Edward  Coke.  That 
learned  judge  held  it  in  high  esteem,  and  after  the 
fashion  of  the  time,  found  for  it  a  sage  and  allegori 
cal  signification.  "  It  is,"  says  he,  "  like  the  helmet 
of  Minerva,  who  was  truly  the  goddess  of  counsel," 
making,  as  we  see,  a  pun,  which  is  pardonable 
enough  in  a  lawyer.  He  adds  farther,  in  his 
eulogy  upon  this  venerable  head-piece, — and  his 
words  may  somewhat  instruct  us  in  its  particular 
shape — "Its  four  corners  impart  science,  experience, 


EGERIA.  147 

observation,  and  recordation." — Have  the  profession, 
with  this  lucid  opinion  before  them,  done  wisely  in 
discarding  this  notable  head-piece  ?  May  not  some 
of  the  virtues  of  the  practice  have  been  abandoned 
with  it  ?  We  ask  with  apprehension  and  much  mis 
giving,  was  it  right  to  resign  it  so  entirely  to  the 
other  sex  ?  Could  it  not  be  worn  appropriately  even 
to  this  day,  by  many  who  certainly  could  not  shake 
noddle  less  wise,  under  any  head  gear  ?  Something 
perhaps,  of  the  virtues  of  the  Coif  was  lost  in 
changing  its  original  shape.  No  one  certainly  ever 
thought  that,  in  cutting  off  its  corners,  we  sacrificed 
so  many  of  its  essential  virtues — science,  experience, 
observation,  and  recordation  !  Alas  !  for  the  Coif ! 
it  imports  but  little  of  these  qualities  now ! 

THE  IDEAL. 

The  ideal  is  necessarily  significant  of  the  indivi 
dual.  It  is  my,  or  your,  conception  of  the  highest 
moral  within  our  reach.  It  is  peculiar  to  one,  or 
other  of  us,  until  we  convey  our  conceptions,  con 
victions,  and  impressions,  into  other  minds.  As 
soon  as  our  discovery  becomes  general,  it  becomes 
real,  and  ceases  to  be  ideal. 


148  EGERIA. 

INDISCRETION  OF  LOVE. 

The  natural  indiscretion  of  Love  is  not  badly  con 
veyed  in  a  stanza  from  the  French  of  Ma'amselle 
Deshoulieres.  That  Love  should  be  indiscreet  results 
from  the  fact  that  it  is  Faith  also. 

Vainly  would  true  love  hide 

The  secret  in  her  breast ; 
By  sighs  that  speak,  by  tears, 

The  passion  is  confessed: 
Too  late,  when  in  the  soul, 

Love  sways  with  power  complete, 
Would  prudence  then  control: — 

Love  still  is  indiscreet. 

GLORY. 

Glory  is  one  of  those  moral  objects  for  which  we 
have  no  precise  definition.  In  proportion  to  the 
moral  elevation  of  our  standards,  it  will  be  found  to 
signify  the  successful  achievements  of  man,  laboring 
in  behalf  of  man.  Among  a  people  neither  absolute 
ly  barbarous,  nor  yet  refined  to  just  moral  elevation, 
it  illustrates  the  fame  of  the  successful  conqueror, 
the  invaders  of  peaceful  lands,  the  spoilers  of  lovely 
cities.  Even  among  nations  whose  pretensions  were 
sufficiently  lofty,  no  matter  what  their  real  claims  to 


EGERIA.  149 

our  admiration  rnay  have  been,  the  import  of  the 
word  is  exceedingly  equivocal.  Two  remarkable 
instances  occur  to  us  at  this  moment.  Marcus 
Brutus,  who  slew  Caesar — whom  we  ordinarily  speak 
of  as  the  incorruptible  patriot, — was  a  selfish  and 
mercenary  usurer,  one  of  the  most  grasping  of  the 
satraps  whom  Rome  sent  forth  to  govern  her  distant 
provinces — a  man  whose  cupidity  provoked  the  cen 
sure  of  Cicero,  and  who  behaved  in  a  manner  the 
most  treacherous  and  selfish  in  regard  to  Caesar, 
whom  he  slew — accepted  office  under  him,  pledged 
himself  to  his  support,  and  betrayed  his  trust,  when 
the  treachery  could  avail  nothing  for  the  preserva 
tion  of  the  country.  Another  instance,  equally  re 
markable,  is  that  of  Augustus  Caesar,  who  cunningly 
conciliating  the  venal  poet,  has  been  placed  at  the 
very  fountain  of  glory,  where  opinion  servilely 
keeps  him  to  this  very  day.  Yet  he  was  but  a  sorry 
scoundrel  after  all — who  betrayed  and  proscribed 
his  friend,  the  patriot  Cicero,  consenting  to  his 
murder  as  one  of  the  conditions  of  his  own  elevation 
to  the  Triumvirate — who  behaved  in  a  manner  both 
cruel  and  cowardly  at  Philippi ;  and  was  base 
enough  to  desire  to  conduct  a  woman,  Cleopatra,  in 
chains  to  Rome,  gracing  his  chariot  wheels  with  a 
13* 


150  EGERIA. 

triumph,  which  he  had  not  the  soul  to  merit.  His 
refusal  to  fight  in  single  combat  with  Mark  Antony, 
was,  perhaps,  proper  enough,  but  it  is  quite  likely 
that  it  arose  as  much  from  deficient  personal  courage 
as  from  a  sense  of  propriety  and  right.  We  might 
add  another  instance  from  Roman  history  quite  as 
remarkable  in  the  case  of  Lucretia,  a  woman  who 
preferred  the  actual  commission  of  the  crime  with 
an  equal  to  the  mere  imputation  of  it  in  connexion 
with  an  accomplice  of  inferior  social  caste. 

HUMAN  NEED. 

Did  we  pray  usually  for  that  which  we  need, 
rather  than  that  which  we  wrant,  the  Deity  would 
find  it  much  more  easy  to  answer  our  prayers,  and 
we  should  prove  in  better  condition  to  deserve  his 
gifts.  After  all,  it  is  a  God  only  that  we  need, 
since  it  is  through  him  only  that  we  may  command 
all  the  possessions  of  eternity. 

LABOR— ITS  VALUE. 

The  workingman  is  the  only  substantial  citizen, 
all  other  things  being  equal.  The  nation  is  strong 
only  in  its  working  men.  Everything  which  goes 
to  diminish  the  amount  of  positive  performance 


EG  EH  i  A.  151 

among  a  people — which  goes  to  lessen  the  grand  re 
sults  of  human  labor — is  of  necessity  evil.  Such 
are  necessarily,  in  some  degree,  all  stock  companies, 
which,  from  being  agents  of  social  industry,  by  the 
accumulation  and  appropriation  of  capital,  degene 
rate  into  primary  conditions,  and  divert  from  their 
legitimate  tasks  and  exercises,  the  minds  and  ener 
gies  of  a  population  which  they  thenceforth  render 
superfluous.  There  is  unhappily,  in  our  country,  a 
very  universal  distaste  to  labor.  Our  labor  is  but 
too  much  imported  from  abroad.  We  loathe  and 
despise  the  severer  tasks  of  that  industry  which  re 
moves  mountains  and  fills  the  deserts  with  fruits  and 
blossoms.  Our  people,  afflicted  with  certain  childish 
vanities,  prefer  to  fill  the  ranks  of  the  professions 
with  useless  recruits,  who  add  nothing  to  their  dig 
nity  or  character,  and  lessen,  by  just  their  own 
strength,  the  number  of  the  legitimate  producers  of 
the  country.  This  is  to  multiply  unnecessary  con 
sumers  of  the  capital  they  were  intended  to  produce. 
Society  is  very  much  like  a  bee-hive ;  if  the  drones 
are  allowed  to  remain,  even  where  they  do  not  pro 
pagate,  the  contents  of  the  hive  will  very  soon  be 
exhausted.  That  dependence  upon  foreign  labor,  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  seems  to  me  one  of  the  most 


152  EGERIA. 

fearful  signs  of  our  degeneracy.  It  shows  that  a 
morbid  vanity  is  almost  the  only  thing  willing  to  work 
among  us.  That  society  which  dares  not  grapple 
heartily  with  the  essential  tasks  of  field  and  highway, 
must  forbear,  only  with  daily  loss  of  its  most  whole 
some  characteristics.  "With  us  the  cry  seems  ever 
more  for  money.  The  want  of  money  is  the  one  want 
which  we  everywhere  unite  to  deplore.  The  proper 
subject  of  complaint  is  want  of  industry.  We  have 
money  enough  in  proportion  to  our  need,  our  in 
dustry,  and  our  deserts.  It  is  only  lacking  in  pro 
portion  to  our  profligacy  and  vain  pretension.  Nay, 
it  is  owing,  in  a  great  degree,  to  our  having  had  so 
much  money,  or  so  much  that  put  on  the  semblance 
of  money,  and  maintained  it  for  a  time  as  fairy 
gifts  are  said  to  do,  that  we  are  now  suffering  and 
now  complaining.  Money  is  one  of  the  most  dan 
gerous  of  all  social  possessions.  It  is  a  wondrous 
power,  the  very  use  of  which  requires  a  previous 
training  of  head  and  heart,  which  cannot  be  too 
careful  or  too  strict.  Few  people  know  properly 
how  to  use  it,  keeping  moral  standards  before  their 
eyes.  Most  persons  not  accustomed  to  its  employ 
ment,  not  trained  to  the  use  of  power,  become  gam 
blers  with  wealth,  and  the  fancies  and  the  appetites 


EGERIA.  153 

take  the  control  of  that  which  can  be  used  with 
safety  only  by  a  justly  judging  morality  and  a  sage 
experience.  The  Americans,  a  young  and  conse 
quently  a  poor  people,  were,  of  all  others,  the  least 
prepared  to  use  it  judiciously.  In  many  respects, 
at  one  period  in  the  history  of  the  world,  the  Spa 
niards  were  the  richest  people  in  the  world.  But 
they  were  previously  among  the  poorest,  and  their 
riches,  after  a  brief  career  of  recklessness,  pride,  lust, 
and  other  passions,  engendered  by  this  very  sudden 
excess  of  wealth,  brought  them  to  something  worse 
than  their  original  condition.  The  Spaniards  are 
now  not  only  the  poorest  and  feeblest,  but  the  most 
degraded  of  all  the  powers  of  Christendom.  The 
present  is  a  fruit  of  their  immediately  previous  con 
dition.  It  was  the  discovery  of  Spanish  America 
and  its  rich  possessions,  to  which  their  poverty  is 
due.  They  were  not  prepared  to  use  judiciously 
their  own  resources,  and  squandered  wastefully  what 
they  had  unexpectedly  acquired,  but  not  till  it  had 
taught  them  wants,  habits,  and  indulgences  which 
they  are  no  longer  able  to  supply.  As  the  descen 
dants  of  the  expelled  Moors  of  Granada,  still  keep 
the  keys  of  the  ancient  homestead,  still  dreaming  to 
get  back ;  so  the  Spaniard  still  waits  dreaming  that 


154  EGERIA. 

the  Providence  which  brought  him  Mexico  and  Peru 
will  again  restore  them  to  his  possession.  The  case 
of  a  nation  is  not  improperly  illustrated  by  individual 
example.  Take  the  instance  of  the  youthful  heir 
of  the  old  miser — one  whom  the  sordid  passion  of 
the  sire  has,  while  he  lived,  kept  within  the  most 
contracted  limits  of  a  base  and  slavish  economy. 
Let  him,  while  still  young,  be  admitted  freely  among 
the  hoards  of  which  he  has  only  dreamed  before,  and 
note  with  what  pains-taking  earnestness  he  dissipates 
them.  It  is  his  boast,  indeed,  that  he  does  so,  even 
as  expensive  frivolities  and  meretricious  life  are  be 
come  a  boast  with  us.  "  It's  gone  at  last !"  was  the 
only  half-desponding  exclamation  of  one  of  these 
profligates  a  few  years  ago,  as  he  acknowledged  his 
ruin  ;  but,  suddenly  looking  up,  with  a  sort  of  ex 
ultation  in  his  manner,  as  if  there  had  been  some 
degree  of  merit  in  the  very  recklessness  of  his 
waste — "  but  may  be  I  didn't  hum  it  while  it  lasted." 
Was  there  ever  a  more  perfect  boy !  That  his  top 
hummed  while  it  was  going,  was  a  great  consolation 
for  its  loss.  A  whole  people  become  thus  profligate 
at  seasons,  sharing  the  vices  of  the  individual,  for 
such  excesses  arc  epidemical.  The  American  people 


EGERIA.  155 

have  presented  for  the  last  ten  years*  the  melan 
choly  spectacle  of  a  nation  humming  it,  just  like 
the  silly  boy ;  with  the  simple  difference,  in  which 
we  find  a  hope,  that  their  humming  is  no  longer  a 
subject  of  congratulatory  chuckle.  For  some  ten 
years  longer,  we  shall  be  prudent  enough  to  forbear 
to  hum  it;  but  there  are  periodical  returns  for  all 
such  maladies,  and  a  return  of  seeming  prosperity 
for  a  longer  period  than  usual,  unless  we  learn  to 
respect  money  less,  and  industry  more,  will  be  sure 
to  bring  us  to  our  sack-cloth  again.  Seriously,  our 
levity  of  character  is  a  great  evil  in  our  constitu 
tion.  It  can  scarcely  be  otherwise  until  we  honor 
labor  more.  She  methodizes  all  the  faculties,  and 
makes  all  the  securities  of  virtue  as  well  as  fortune. 
Mere  sleight  of  hand  will  not  answer.  We  must 
shut  up  half  of  our  shops  at  least,  lop  from  the  idle 
host  that  throng  the  professions,  and  go  back  to  the 
deserted  fields,  making  our  own  corn  and  cabbages, 
and  gathering  in  the  harvest  with  our  own  hands. 
How  many  proper  farmers  have  the  last  ten  years 
converted  into  bankrupt  tradesmen  and  desperate 
men  ! 

*  This  was  written  in  1830. 


156  EG  EH  i A. 

"  GDI  D'UN  UOM  CHE  MUORE." 

The  Gift  of  the  Dying,  is  from  the  Italian  of 
Redaelli,  and  involves  a  sweet,  sad  little  history.  In 
his  dying  moments  the  poet  dictated  it  to  the  lady 
of  his  love,  to  whom  he  returned,  at  the  same  time, 
a  withered  flower,  which  he  had  plucked  from  her 
bosom  not  long  before. 

Take,  love,  this  withered  flower, 

It  bears  my  dying  breath  ; 
Hear,  ere  my  lips'  last  power 

Be  yielded  up  in  death. 

How  precious  to  my  breast, 

Since  ravished  first  from  thine, 
Thou  knows't  and  canst  attest 

By  all  the  truth  in  mine  ! 

Proof  of  my  rapture  then, 

But  rapture  now  no  more  ; 
Ah  !  take  the  flower  again, 

Which,  dying,  I  restore. 

And  while  thy  breast,  from  whence 

'Twas  ravished,  feels  for  )ne, 
Think  how  'twas  snatched  from  thence, 

And  how  restored  to  thee. 


EG  EH  i  A.  157 

RANZ  DES  VACHES, 

Means  literally,  the  song  of  the  cows ;  idiomati 
cally,  the  cow-herd  or  the  shepherd's  song.  The 
original,  of  which  the  following  is  but  a  paraphrase, 
is  said  to  possess  a  powerful  effect  on  the  wandering 
Swiss — an  effect  so  powerful  that  it  wras  forbidden  to 
be  sung  among  the  recruits  of  that  nation  in  the 
French  army.  Yet  there  is  nothing  in  the  senti 
ment  but  its  nature  and  the  peculiarly  touching 
simplicity  of  the  music.  You  remember  the  often- 
quoted  apothegm,  from  the  essays  of  Fletcher  of  Sal- 
toun, — "  Give  me  the  making  of  a  people's  ballads, 
and  I  care  not  who  makes  their  laws." 

When  shall  I,  at  a  single  glance,  behold 

All  the  uncounted  objects  of  my  love — 
The  fountains  that  flow  onward,  never  old — 

The  village  spire — the  cottage  and  the  grove — 
The  mountains  high?  nor  these  alone — the  sweet, 

The  beauty  of  them  all?     Ah!  when,  indeed, 
Shall  I  with  her  beneath  the  rooftree  meet, 

And  frolic  to  the  music  of  the  reed  ? 

When  shall  I  these  behold?     When  shall  I  see 
The  father  and  the  mother  whom  I  love — 

Brother  and  sister — and  the  flocks  so  free, 

Gay  leaping  down  the  mountain  through  the  grove? 
14 


158  EGERIA. 

Ah  !  in  what  happy  moment  shall  these  eyes 

Grow  bright  with  this  sweet  picture,  and  my  feet 

Stand  in  that  happy  valley,  which  supplies 

All  that  the  world  contains  of  good  and  sweet  ? 

By  way  of  variety,  here  is  another  version,  which 
I  published  some  years  ago  anonymously,  and  which 
I  subsequently  discovered  set  to  music  by  somebody 
whose  name  I  forget,  and  dedicated  to  a  Miss 
Rebecca  Burke.  If  the  reader  will  believe  me,  I 
never  heard  of  Miss  Rebecca  until  that  moment.  I 
know  nothing  of  Miss  Burke,  and  have  my  doubts 
if  there  really  be  any  such  person.  But  here  is  the 
song. 


When,  in  what  happy  moment  shall  I  see 

The  thousand  things  that  youthful  memory  loves 
The  happy  home  where  still  I  wandered  free, — 
The  maiden  dear,  the  valley  and  the  groves, — 
The  woods  so  fair, 
The  streams  so  clear, — 
Ah !  when,  no  more  a  pilgrim,  shall  I  see 
The  things  so  dear,  so  very,  very  dear ! 

II. 

Ah !  the  fond  memory  brings  them  to  my  eyes 
As  still  they  grew  and  gathered  for  my  youth , 


EGERIA.  150 

Before  me,  once  again,  the  woodland  lies, — 
There  is  the  valley,  there  the  cot,  in  truth  j — 
And  ah !  the  voice 
That  says  rejoice, — • 

The  voice  of  her  who  blessed  my  youthful  eyes — 
The  maid  I  love,  the  maiden  of  my  choice. 

FORBEARANCE  IN  FRIENDSHIP. 

One  of  the  best  securities  for  a  permanent  friend 
ship,  is  to  be  found  in  a  forbearing  to  assert  superi 
ority.  It  is  rarely  that  we  find  reverence  and  sym 
pathy  so  associated,  and  so  equally  active,  as  in  the 
famous  case  of  Boswell,  in  regard  to  Johnson ;  and 
yet  nothing  less  than  this  union  of  sympathy 
with  reverence, — in  fact,  a  sympathy  which  springs 
from  reverence — will  establish  a  friendship  where 
one  of  the  parties  is  vastly  superior  in  intellect  to 
the  other.  The  highest  form  of  intellect  is  usually 
isolation. 

MAJOR  NOAH'S  CLOAK. 

[The  veteran  editor,  Major  Noah,  is  dead ,  and  I 
should  be  the  last  person  in  the  world  to  say  any 
thing  seriously  which  would  hurt  his  character  or 
disparage  his  memory  ;  but  a  harmless  pleasantry, 
which  I  copy  from  my  portfolio,  and  which  was 
written  some  twenty-five  years  ago,  can  scarcely 


160  EGERIA. 

have  any  such  effect,  as  it  carries  on  its  face  the 
good  humor  and  playful  spirit  with  which  it  was 
conceived  and  written.  The  subject  of  the  piece  may 
he  briefly  stated  thus.  It  appears  that  when  Major 
Noah  was  United  States  Consul  at  Algiers,  the  ruling 
Dey  made  him  a  present  of  a  very  splendid  cloak, 
which  the  Major,  of  course,  valued  very  highly.  Soon 
after  he  was  appointed  Collector  of  Customs,  or 
Naval  Officer  in  the  New  York  Custom  House,  by 
General  Jackson,  this  cloak  was  stolen  from  his 
office  by  some  rascally  sans  culotte,  and  the  news 
papers  lamented  the  event  in  language  exceedingly 
superlative,  but  quite  American.  It  was  then  that 
the  following  lines  were  written :] 

Grimly,  the  Major  paced  the  Custom  House, 
Lamenting  his  misfortune. 

"  That  same  cloak, — 

Apart  from  its  own  qualities" — quoth  he — 
"  Was  to  me  a  great  treasure,  since  it  came 
From  one  who  in  his  empire,  was  a  prince, 
After  my  heart's  first  fancy  !     A  brave  Prince, 
Made  up  of  grasping  virtues  ;  vigorous,  wide, 
Such  as  meseemed  a  model,  did  he  stand 


EGERIA.  161 

Chief  in  my  estimation  ; — just  the  man, 
As  in  my  judgment,  I  myself  had  chosen 
For  such  a  sway  in  Israel,  or  New  York. 
Though  vulgar  wits,  in  the  world's  vicious  phrase, 
As  ignorant  of  the  seeming  as  the  true. 
Had  still  pronounced  him  pirate,  and  declared 
His  goodly  gains  ill  gotten ;  as  if  goods 
Once  gotten,  could  be  evil !      He  was  one 
Whom  I  had  ever  longed  to  know  and  love — 
A  royal  prince  by  nature,  who  well  knew 
What  best  became  his  station,  and  could  deal, 
In  bounties  proper  to  his  perquisites  ! 
'Twas  on  a  wintry  morning  that  he  threw 
That  cloak  across  my  shoulders.     This  I  know, 
By  the  same  token  that  mine  own  was  old, 
And  scandalously  threadbare.     It  had  been 
In  service,  and  hard  service,  fifteen  years  ; 
And,  with  the  natural  shrewdness  of  my  heart, 
I  told  his  highness  the  sad  truth, — who  then, — 
He  being  a  gracious  Prince  to  those  he  loved, — 
With  sleight  of  hand  and  gracefulness  unmatched, 
Plucked  this  same  garment  from  an  Emir's  back, 
And  cast  it  o'er  mine  own.     Whereat,  the  man 
Who  lost  my  gain,  frowned  sulkily  awhile,— 
A  sullen  slave  who  knew  no  gratitude — 
14* 


162  EGERIA. 

Until  his  highness,  with  a  princely  buffet 
About  the  fellow's  ears,  that  made  them  ring, — 
Settled  the  matter — and  the  cloak  \vas  mine  ! 
Now  mine  no  more  ! 

Thus  ever  hath  it  been  ! 
The  prophet  finds  no  honor  in  the  land 
That  gave  him  being ;  and  amidst  these  walls 
I  walk  the  embodied  motion  of  a  satv, 
On  which  I  have  swung  see-saw  all  my  days, 
Never  once  suffered  on  the  settling  side. 
Here  do  I  dwell  without  security  : 
They  neither  yield  me  prophet  dues,  nor  yet 
Entreat  me  as  a  man.     'Twas  a  hard  tug 
To  get  into  the  Customs; — now  that  I'm  here, 
They  rend  from  me  a  habit,  best  of  all 
That  ever  came  from  Algerine, — to  whom 
I  owe  my  best  of  habits,  as  my  last.    , 
Impossible  that  I  should  match  that  coat 
In  all  New  York, — try  Maiden  Lane,  or  Pearl, 
Broadway  or  Bowery,  Chatham  Street  or  Broad ; 
And  but  one  hope  remains  to  me,  to  use 
An  Algerine  habit, — and  to  smuggle  one 
By  virtue  of  mine  office,  and  in  spite 
Of  mine  own  virtue  !     These,  I  well  may  say, 
Are  cruel  Customs, — which,  as  Winter  comes, 
Rob  me  of  my  Kamschatka  ! 


EGERIA.  163 

FOOLS. 

It  is  Seneca  who  says,  "When  I  would  solace 
myself  with  a  fool,  I  go  into  a  secret  place  with  my 
self."  To  see  a  fool,  we  have  but  to  seek  for  a 
looking  glass  or  a  familiar — a  wise  man,  invoke  God 
for  a  miracle — a  true  woman,  seek  a  mother,  who, 
with  but  one  son,  has  not  made  the  boy  her  master. 

RESOLVE. 

He  who  resolves  frequently,  is  apt  to  spend  all 
his  energies  in  his  resolutions.  It  is  better  to  ad 
vance  upon  the  journey  which  you  have  purposed, 
even  though  the  baggage  should  be  left  behind. 

WISDOM. 

When,  at  more  than  a  hundred  years  of  age, 
Theophrastus  lamented  that  he  was  about  to  die, 
just  as  he  was  beginning  to  grow  wise,  we  see  that 
he  was  mistaken.  The  very  lamentation  for  a  pro 
longed  life,  on  the  part  of  one  who  was  "  sans  teeth, 
sans  eyes,  sans  taste,  sans  everything,"  sufficiently 
proves  that  Theophrastus  was  quite  as  far  from  wis 
dom  as  ever. 


164  EGEEIA. 

AMBITION. 

If  honors  are  from  God  ambition  is  by  no  means 
an  unchristian  passion.  It  needs  only  to  be  shown, 
by  him  who  is  ambitious  of  eminence,  that  he  will 
become  his  honors,  and,  in  the  distinction,  be  not 
forgetful  or  incapable  of  the  duties  of  the  place. 

MORAL  OBJECTS. 

The  knowledge  to  find  out  one's  particular  uses — 
the  faith  to  believe  in  one's  own  mission — the  will  to 
peril  all  worldly  considerations  in  its  performance, — 
these  constitute  the  proper  objects  of  all  moral 
training  and  desire. 

SOUL  AND  SOIL. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  soil,  if  it  be  not  in  the 
soul  of  him  who  works  it.  The  earth  flourishes  only 
in  the  smiles  of  God  and  the  intense  intellectual  ap 
plication  of  man.  A  poor  soil  as  it  is  the  parent  of 
great  necessities,  will  not  unfrequently  make  a  great 
people ;  but  fertile  lands  are  always  a  danger,  since 
the  soul  that  leaves  everything  to  the  soil,  is  itself 
likely  to  become  barren. 


EGERIA.  105 

HORACE  TO  HIS  LYRE. 

From  ode  xxxii.,  and  which  the  reader  may  sup 
pose  to  have  been  rendered  by  Morris  or  Willis,  the 
Castor  and  Pollux  of  American  Minstrelsy  and 
Magazines. 

If  in  the  shade,  in  other  hours, 

Dear  Lyre,  in  deathless  verse  we've  sung, 
A  harder  duty  now  is  ours 

To  carol  in  the  Yankee  tongue : 
In  Grecian  strains  we've  sung  of  yore, 

By  Lesbian  Alca-us  taught — the  brave, 
Who,  whether  he  sought  the  steadfast  shore, 

Or  rocked  in  tempest  o'er  the  wave, 
To  Bacchus  still  attuned  his  lyre, 

The  muses  sought  with  deathless  strain, 
Or  for  the  Queen  of  young  desire, 

And  Lowell,  ever  in  her  train, 
(Boy  with  the  coal-black  eyes  of  fire,) 

Still  sang,  nor  often  sang  in  vain. 
Lyre,  that  Apollo  loved  so  well, 

Best  charm  at  Jove's  own  banquets, — be 
But  pliant  now  to  Yankee  spell, 

And  yield  the  power  of  Song  to  me. 

GOD  AND  MAN. 

God  made  the  world  in  six  days — it  takes  man 
scarcely  six  minutes  to  find  fault  with  it. 


166  EGERIA. 

God  saw  that  it  was  good  and  blessed  it — man 
finds  it  evil  and  curses  it. 

Alas  !  for  man  that  sees  nothing  with  the  eyes  of 
God,  but  everything  with  his  own !  Both  God  and 
man  judge  of  the  earth  and  its  things  from  the  na 
ture  separately  within  them. 

It  is  not  earth  and  its  creatures,  nor  the  waters, 
nor  the  air,  with  their  tribes  of  living  things,  which 
God  sees  to  be  good,  and  blesses  accordingly — it  is 
the  eternal,  unchangeable  spirit  of  life,  of  truth, 
and  of  beauty,  which,  from  his  own,  he  infuses  into 
them  all. 

It  is  not  the  earth,  nor  the  seas,  nor  the  skies, 
nor  the  creatures  that  dwell  in  them,  that  man  finds 
evil  and  curses  accordingly — it  is  his  own  blind  eyes, 
and  bitter  spirit,  and  capricious  temper,  through 
whose  jaundiced  medium  all  things  become  evil,  and 
out  of  proportion  with  the  natural  and  true ! 

Earth,  ocean,  air,  and  life !  Let  us  learn  to  see 
and  to  bless  ye,  even  as  ye  have  been  seen  and 
blessed  by  the  Eternal  Father. 

"VIVE  MEMOR  LETHE." 

"Live,"  said  the  ancient — with  philosophy 
Too  narrow  for  the  progress  of  our  race — 


EGERIA.  167 

"Live,  always  with  thy  memory  set  on  death!" 
Better  the  Scripture  thus :   So  keep  thy  thought, 
Maugre  the  fear  of  death,  that  thou  mayst  live, 
Not  once  forgetting  that  thou  liv'st  for  life ! 
Care  and  transition  are  not  absolute, 
Save  as  they  mark  the  steps  which  we  declare 
In  a  long  progress — steps  from  high  to  higher, 
Where,  what  we  seek  is  but  to  entertain 
The  ambition  that  still  prompts  us  to  aspire. 

CONSCIENCE. 

We  should  make  terms  with  conscience,  if  it  be 
only  to  keep  peace  in  the  family. 

POETS. 

The  Poet  of  Fancy  compares  and  contrasts ;  the 
Imaginative  Poet  combines  and  personifies.  The 
Poet  of  Fancy  decorates  and  adorns ;  he  of  Imagi 
nation  creates  and.  endows.  The  one  finds  wings 
and  color  for  his  thought ;  the  other  makes  of  it  a 
living  and  a  breathing  soul. 

PUNISHMENT. 

In  the  punishment  of  death,  society,  in  its  fear 
or  selfishness,  totally  excludes  from  consideration 


168  EGERIA. 

one  of  the  great  ends  of  punishment,  which,  in  pro 
tecting  society  ought  never  to  lose  sight  of  a  regard 
for  the  recovery  of  the  offender.  A  citizen  is  a 
child  of  the  State,  whom  we  should  chastise  for  his 
misdeeds,  rebuke  for  his  excesses,  and  place  equally 
out  of  the  way  of  harm  and  mischief;  but  whom  no 
parent  should  think  of  cutting  off  entirely,  while  a 
sin  is  yet  to  be  repented,  and  a  talent  yet  remains 
to  be  made  useful. 

PHLEGM. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  counsel  the  human  fa 
mily  against  the  phlegmatic  and  the  sceptic.  It  is 
surprising,  indeed,  how  generally  and  certainly  men 
shrink  from  the  presence  of  the  person  of  habitual 
sneer  and  denial.  It  is  by  an  instinct,  born  of  the 
human  necessity  for  sympathy,  that  such  is  the  case, 
rather  than  because  of  any  process  of  reason  which 
teaches  that  such  persons  are  toi)e  avoided  ;  for  the 
sceptic  is  usually  a  person  whose  confidence  in  himself 
arises,  not  less  from  his  own  conviction  that  he  never 
offends  against  propriety,  than  from  his  conscious 
ness  of  superior  endowment.  He  has  self-esteem, 
of  course,  but  he  has  the  exterior  morals  also.  He 
is  a  social  Pharisee,  and  feels  that  he  is  no  black- 


EGERIA.  lf>9 

guard  like  his  neighbor.  He  never  offends  against 
the  vulgar  virtues  of  the  highway.  But  he  is  the 
greater  monster  for  all  this,  since  he  can  comply 
with  all  the  laws  of  decency,  without  having  learned 
the  first  and  simplest,  which  teaches  the  sympathies 
and  the  affections. 

WEALTH. 

Our  wealth  does  not  so  much  consist  in  our  acqui 
sitions  as  in  our  performances,  and  he  is  sometimes 
the  richest  man  who  has  left  himself  nothing. 

GERMS. 

To  teach  the  child  you  must  study  him,  even  as 
we  examine  the  secret  nature  of  the  tree  before  we 
attempt  its  cultivation.  If  the  acorn  is  the  sire  of 
the  oak,  that  does  not  by  any  means  render  it  neces 
sary  that  it  should  be  boiled  before  it  is  planted. 

MODESTY. 

Modesty  is  policy,  no  less  than  virtue.  It  implies 
security,  which  is  never  the  case  wTith  ambition,  and 
still  less  of  presumption.  To  wait  your  time  is  to 
win  your  aim ;  to  wait  the  call,  is  to  be  sure  to  hear 
it  in  proper  season ;  though  it  must  be  remembered 
15 


170  EGEIIIA. 

that  you  keep  your  ears  open.     You  must  watch  as 
well  as  wait,  and  watching  itself  implies  modesty. 

FRAGMENTS. 

Here  arc  a  few  fragments  from  the  Italian  of 
Metastasio,  which  may  be  used  as  mottoes. 

I.    THE    FIRST    VOYAGER. 

Bold  was  that  gallant  rover, 

The  first  on  ocean's  breast, 
Who  ploughed  the  wide  seas  over, 

Of  unknown  lands  in  quest; 
But  for  his  gallant  daring, 

How  many  realms  had  been, 
With  none  their  treasures  sharing, 

Unconquered  as  unseen ! 

II.    SILENCE. 

Silence  herself  is  eloquent,  and  he 

May  sometimes,  in  his  answer,  say  too  much, 

Who  suffers  her  to  speak. 

III.   FAITH. 

If  faith  be  guilt,  the  crime  upon  my  head! 
Lead  me  to  death.     To  die  for  such  offence 
Makes  proud  my  spirit. 

IV.   APPROVING    CONSCIENCE. 

He  with  firmness  dies, 

Who,  in  the  parting  agony,  looks  back, 


EGERIA.  171 

Nor  blyshes  to  behold,  of  his  past  life. 
The  long  and  various  history. 

V.  FAME. 

"He  who  would  cling  to  life, 
Despising  glory,  merits  riot  to  live. 
Life  is  the  common  property — but  Fame, 
Belongs  to  great  souls  only." 

CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 

The  test  for  human  progress  in  civilization  is  the 
development  of  the  constructive  faculty.  It  is  true 
that  a  man  shares  the  antagonist  quality  with  the 
brute,  and  is  destructive  in  quite  the  same  degree ; 
but  he  has  the  corrective,  in  the  opposite  endowment 
of  constructiveness,  and  his  labor  is  quite  legitimate 
when  he  destroys  to  build.  Dcstructiveness,  indeed, 
is  absolutely  essential  to  the  proper  exercise  of  in 
genuity  in  art. 

FRIENDSHIP. 

It  is  frequently  the  case  that  you  lose  your  friend 
in  the  sagacity  which  perceives  his  imperfections. 
True  friendship  implies  the  privilege  of  sorrowing 
over  the  infirmities  of  your  favorite,  and  curing 
them  whenever  you  can.  Yet,  though  we  know  our 
danger,  and  believe  in  the  skill  of  the  surgeon,  it 


172  EGERIA. 

seems  to  be  very  rational  that  we  should  recoil  from 
his  instrument.  To  be  properly  susceptible  of  friend 
ship,  in  its  highest  capabilities,  it  is  necessary  that  we 
should  not  only  love  confidingly,  but  that  we  should 
have  strength  to  suffer  reproach  without  misgiving 
or  resentment. 

SELF-ESTEEM  IN  FRIENDS. 

Fly  in  all  haste  from  the  friend  who  will  suffer  you 
to  teach  him  nothing. 

RARITY  OF  FRIENDSHIP. 

Friendship,  with  half  the  world,  means  little  more 
than  the  utter  subordination  of  one  of  the  parties 
to  all  the  humors  and  caprices  of  the  other.  In 
other  words,  to  be  your  friend,  I  must  be  your  pa 
tron.  There  is  little  real  friendship  in  the  world. 
It  is  a  rarer  quality  than  love — is  too  passionless  a 
virtue  for  most  people.  Regarded  as  the  thing  it 
is,  we  hold  the  maxim  of  Polonius  to  be  worth  its 
weight  in  gold : 

"  To  thy  own  self  be  true, 
And  it  must  follow  as  the  night  the  day, 
Thou  canst  not  then  be  false  to  any  man." 


EGERIA.  173 

SOLITUDE  AND  SELF-ESTEEM. 

He  will  never  suffer  from  solitude  who  has  never 
quarrelled  with  himself. 

DEFINITIONS. 

Definitions,  in  relation  to  indeterminate  subjects, 
such  as  poetry,  the  forms  and  combinations  of 
which  are  endless,  can  seldom  contemplate  more 
than  a  single  characteristic.  You  can  only  describe 
such  topics  by  histories,  and  a  new  phase  in  the 
progress  of  either  will  still  call  for  a  new  history. 

WOMAN. 

The  woman  knows  something  too  much,  who  too 
readily  discovers  where  her  sex  is  weak,  and  yet 
the  general  consciousness  of  her  weakness,  by  incul 
cating  caution  and  humility,  is  the  best  security  for 
her  virtues. 

WAYSIDE  THORNS. 

The  wayside  is  set  with  thorns,  in  all  probability 
that  we  should  not  forget  our  errands  while  we 
loiter. 

SEARCH. 

No  one  need  srck   who  does  not   believe  in  the 


174  EGERIA. 

object  of  his  search,  and  who  has  not  first  resolved 
to  find.  Faith  and  resolution  are  the  two  eyes 
which  alone  conduct  to  discovery  and  conquest. 

FIRST  LOVES. 

The  reason  why  boys,  at  first,  fall  in  love  with 
women  who  are  so  much  older  than  themselves,  is 
because  of  their  consciousness  that  they  have  so 
much  to  learn.  When  they  themselves  grow  old 
enough  to  teach,  they  seek  pupils  in  their  sweet 
hearts.  It  is  thus  that  sixty,  forgetting  the  pre 
cocity  of  the  sex,  feels  a  passion  for  sixteen. 

WOMAN'S  FAVOR. 

To  win  the  favor  of  a  woman  is  not  so  necessary 
that  you  should  make  her  pleased  with  you  as  with 
herself.  The  one  conviction  follows  the  other.  The 
mirror  that  shows  beauty  her  own  image,  is  one  that 
she  will  seldom  break.  Men  of  the  world  soon  learn 
this  lesson :  vanity  never. 

FLATTERY. 

Flattery,  to  be  successful,  must  be  always  indirect, 
unless  when  you  are  dealing  with  a  fool.  Flattery, 
primd  facie,  is  an  offence  to  the  understanding,  which 


EGERIA.  175 

persons  of  any  delicacy  always  resent.  It  assumes 
that  the  shallowness  of  your  mind  is  quite  as  great 
as  the  depth  of  your  vanity,  and  proposes  to  deal 
with  you  as  Narcissus  dealt  with  himself.  In  such 
cases,  while  the  dish  is  grateful,  one  curses  the  awk 
ward  waiter  who  serves  it  up. 

PRIMITIVE  FREEDOM. 
Look  to  the  lovely  past,  where  Liberty 

Scatters  her  liberal  gifts  in  plenty  round, 
Makes  all  delight  before  the  grateful  eye, 

And  gives  to  honest  joy  the  viol's  sound. 
See  where,  in  simple  dance,  with  festive  glee, 
They  tread  the  native  carpet  of  the  free ; 
They  dream  not  of  the  smiling  sad  deceit 
That  lurks  in  other  lands,  beneath  the  sweet  ;-^— 
But  Peace,  with  rural  viands  crowns  the  soil, 
And  Love  presents  the  grateful  bowl  to  Toil ; 
Beauty,  from  virgin  neck  of  whitest  snow, 
Lifts  the  long  tress  to  wipe  hard  Labor's  brow ; 
Mirth  leads  the  frolic  from  his  rustic  throne, 
And  Freedom  joys  in  joys  she  well  may  call  her 
own. 

FEMININE  DELICACY. 
The  woman  who  has  sense  enough  to  detect  the 


176  EGEEIA. 

purpose  of  the  flatterer,  will  have  spirit  enough  to 
show  resentment.  If  not,  any  solicitude  in  regard 
to  her  favors  may  safely  be  dispensed  with.  The 
virtue  of  such  a  person  will  prove  as  worthless  as 
her  delicacy. 

THE  SOUL'S  VISION. 

In  astronomy,  as  the  body  rises  it  becomes  lumi 
nous,  until  passing  out  of  the  sphere  of  vision,  it 
sinks  into  darkness  as  before.  But  the  darkness  is 
our  own,  and  not  that  of  the  object  whose  obscura 
tion  we  deplore.  That  has  only  passed  into  a  yet 
profounder  light,  becoming,  though  lost  to  us,  a  yet 
more  truly  "  illuminated  body."  We  have  seen  it 
veiled  in  darkness,  but  the  veil  was  upon  our  own 
eyes ;  and  to  share  in  the  illumination,  or  to  pierce 
that  veil,  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  rise  also. 
Hope  and  Fear  will  provide  the  wings  for  this  pur 
pose,  and  Faith  and  Labor  are  the  sources  of  our 
illumination. 

PENALTIES  OF  EMINENCE. 

The  price  of  immortality  is  death  ;  the  penalty  of 
superiority  is  pain.  We  must  wrestle  for  every  vic 
tory,  without  always  being  sure  that  we  shall  have 


EGERIA.  177 

fair  play.  There  are  thousands  in  the  world  who 
would  pluck  the  plumage  from  another  without  ever 
dreaming  of  wearing  it  themselves.  To  rise  into 
command  or  triumph  is  equally  beyond  their  imagi 
nation  and  their  hope ;  but  there  is  a  pleasure  un 
speakable  which  they  enjoy  in  pulling  down  their 
neighbors  to  their  own  level. 

MEN  OF  THE  WORLD. 

The  best  books  are  those  which  are  written  by 
men  of  the  world,  who  are  yet  no  worldlings.  They 
have  gathered  the  fruits  of  all  human  experience, 
without  having  lost  the  blossoms  of  their  own 
humanity. 

BOOKS. 

The  only  two  classes  of  books  which  are  really 
useful  beyond  all  others,  are  those  which  are  writ 
ten  for  the  head,  and  those  which  are  written  from 
the  heart.  Yet,  to  write  either  well,  requires  a  just 
knowledge  of  both  head  and  heart ; — requires,  in 
deed,  that  while  each  shall  be  recognised,  as  absorb 
ing  always  its  own  province,  they  shall  both  be  con 
sidered  under  a  common  sway. 


178  EGERIA. 

TEACHERS. 

The  teacher  who  loathes  his  vocation  is  totally 
unfit  for  it.  We  must  love  the  labor  in  which  we 
would  thoroughly  succeed.  We  must  honor  the 
pupil  if  we  would  hope  to  train  him  to  honor. 

CHRISTIAN  HUMANITY. 

Humanity  still  conquers,  even  through  suffering. 
Be  careful  not  to  lose  that,  and  you  lose  nothing. 

His  eye  was  tearless,  but  his  cheeks  were  wan : 

There  sorrow  long  had  set  her  heavy  hand ; 

Yet  was  his  spirit  noble,  and  a  bland 
And  sweet  expression  o'er  his  features  ran! 
Care  had  not  tutored  him  to  sullenness, 

The  world's  scorn  not  subdued  the  natural  man, — 
The  sweet  milk  of  his  nurture  was  not  less, 

Because  the  world  had  met  him  with  its  bun  : 
He  is  above  revenges,  though  he  drinks 

The  bitter  draught  of  malice  and  of  hate ; 
And  still,  though  in  the  weary  strife  he  sinks, 

They  cannot  make  him  murmur  at  his  fate — 
He  suffers,  and  he  feels  the  pang,  but  proves 
The  conqueror,  though  he  falls,  for  still  he  loves. 

GREAT  NAMES. 

No  doubt  a  nation  suffers  quite  as  much  from  the 
prescriptive  superiority  of  certain  great  names 


EGERIA.  179 

among  its  people  as  from  any  defects  of  character 
or  infirmities  of  the  people  themselves;  and  yet, 
but  for  this  general  inferiority  of  the  whole,  the 
rank  or  distinction  of  the  individual  could  never 
have  become  so  overshadowing  as  to  have  wrought 
the  nation  any  mischief. 

CENSURE. 

We  complain  that  the  censure  of  our  neighbor 
does  us  injustice.  How  much  greater  should  be  our 
grief  were  his  judgment  just ! 

HOW  TO  ENJOY. 

I  am  honored  in  what  I  spare.  The  rose  which 
I  leave  upon  the  bush  affords  me  a  pleasure  which  I 
should  not  enjoy  were  it  plucked  and  buried  within 
my  bosom.  That  is  a  wretched  selfishness  which 
destroys  when  it  would  enjoy. 

CREDULITY. 

It  is  only  an  ignorant  that  is  a  credulous  people. 
But  not  to  believe  readily,  may  be  quite  as  much  a 
proof  of  arrogance  and  presumption  as  of  wisdom. 
A  people,  like  an  individual,  may  know  a  great  deal, 
yet  be  ignorant  of  the  one  thing  needful.  A  certain 


180  EGERIA. 

amount  of  acquisition,  mingled  with  a  large  quantity 
of  selfishness,  invariably  results  in  destroying  all 
faith  in  our  fellow.  People,  thus  distinguished,  end 
in  believing  nothing  but  themselves. 

DRAMATIC  PICTURES. 

Grouping,  in  a  picture,  implies  action ;  yet  how 
commonly  do  painters  attempt  dramatic  subjects, 
and  give  us  groups  who  seem  to  have  no  object. 
Why  should  men  come  together  unless  there  is  some 
thing  to  be  done  ?  Dramatic  pictures  require  all 
the  higher  qualities  of  the  artist ;  but  the  design  is 
the  vital  requisite,  which,  to  a  certain  degree,  may 
dispense  with  all  the  rest.  At  least,  the  story  may 
be  told  in  chalk ;  and  the  first  object  of  the  drama 
tic  painter  is  to  tell  his  story. 

RELATIONS  IN  A  GROUP. 

The  action  in  a  group  should  be  always  single, 
and  the  figures  should  tend  to  a  common  centre. 
The  eye  of  the  spectator  should  never  be  suffered 
to  wander  off  to  the  mere  auxiliaries.  These  are 
required  to  be  there,  as  dependencies  of  the  hero ; 
we  should  only  not  be  made  conscious  of  their  ab 
sence  ;  but  it  will  not  do,  if  Thersites  is  allowed  to 


EGERIA.  181 

conflict  with  Agamemnon  or  Achilles  in  our  regards. 
For  such  an  offence,  the  painter  would  deserve  to 
share  in  the  chastisement  of  the  buffoon. 

REASON. 

To  be  a  reasoning  animal,  does  not  necessarily 
imply  a  capacity  to  reason.  This  faculty  is  really 
held  by  very  few  among  the  many.  It  is  an  origi 
nal  possession,  and,  though  improvable,  like  any 
other  faculty,  by  training,  is  yet  one  with  which  no 
course  of  education  can  endow  the  individual  to 
whom  it  has  been  denied  by  nature.  It  is  a  gift — 
implying  powers  of  invention  and  combination — 
qualities  which,  united  to  imagination  and  fancy, 
make  the  poet  and  the  painter.  The  reasoner,  like 
the  poet,  is  born,  not  made. 

ENTHUSIASM  AND  EXPERIENCE. 

Enthusiasm,  without  experience  and  study,  may 
be  likened  to  a  ship  with  great  sails  spread  but 
without  ballast,  and  topheavy  by  its  own  lightness. 
But  as  all  the  cargo  in  the  world,  however  valuable, 
and  all  the  seamanship,  however  skilful,  would  do 
nothing  for  the  progress  of  the  ship  without  her 
sails,  so  all  knowledge  and  experience  are  equally 
16 


182  EGERIA. 

dead  and  valueless,  crammed  away  in  the  brain  that 
lacks  enthusiasm. 

TRUTH  AND  ERROR. 

Looking  at  the  huge  libraries,  the  vast  collec 
tions,  the  folios,  quartos,  and  octavos,  which,  at  this 
abundant  day  of  letters,  you  find  in  every  third 
dwelling,  and  the  wonder  is  natural  that  we  should 
be  no  wiser  and  no  better  than  we  are.  Bead  the 
golden  inscriptions  which  they  bear,  and  half  of  them 
are  the  labors  of  the  devout  moralist,  who  loved 
laborious  exercise  for  its  own  sake,  and  found  no 
pleasure  save  when  he  was  doing  battle  for  the 
truth.  Every  third  volume  is  one  of  a  divine  mora 
lity.  All  of  them  are  stuffed  with  wise  saws  and 
senatorial  maxims,  which  promise  the  amplest  tri 
umphs  and  the  most  complete  immunities,  in  return 
for  implicit  reverence  and  obedience.  How  is  it 
then  that  Error,  in  spite  of  all  this,  should  still  con 
tinue  to  exist  ?  Nay,  she  not  only  exists,  but  has 
her  followers,  her  allies,  her  worshippers,  and  is  as 
insolent  and  audacious  as  she  was  before  the  flood. 
She  has  more  lives  than  the  proverbial  cat.  By 
what  seven-fold  shield  does  she  keep  herself  un 
harmed  ?  What  is  the  subtle  tenure  of  that  exis- 


EGERIA.  183 

tcnco  that  makes  her  so  stubborn  an  antagonist — so 
bold  in  the  assault,  so  stubborn  in  defence,  so  swift 
of  flight,  so  adroit  in  seizing  new  positions  the  mo 
ment  she  is  driven  from  the  old,  and  crowning  her 
shoulders  with  new  heads  as  fast  as  we  lop  the  old 
away  ?  Hers  is  a  strange  vitality :  we  cannot  brain 
her  effectually  with  all  our  volumes.  But  here  lies 
the  mystery.  The  big  books  themselves  help  some 
what  to  explain  it.  This  is  the  secret  of  their  inef 
fectiveness  ; — they  are  big,  too  big  !  Error  is  a 
subtle  existence,  small,  compact  and  infmitesimally 
divisible.  It  is  not  necessary  for  her  destruction 
that  we  should  employ  such  forces  as  might  have 
served  Gabriel  against  the  infernal  angels.  Who 
thinks  to  bring  out  field  pieces  in  shooting  sparrows  ? 
Before  we  can  apply  the  torch,  the  bird  is  off,  and 
even  did  it  wait  the  bombardment,  a  mustard  seed 
would  do  more  execution  than  the  bullet.  A  big 
book  in  the  moral,  is  not  unlike  a  big  gun  in  the 
military  world.  It  makes  a  great  noise,  and,  if  it 
happens  to  hit,  does  a  great  deal  of  execution. 
But,  an  hundred  to  one,  in  the  computation  of 
chances,  it  never  does  hit,  and  so,  for  the  good  that 
comes  of  it,  it  consumes  quite  too  much  of  our  time, 
labor,  and  ammunition.  Not  so  with  the  little  books, 


184  E  G  E  R I  A. 

the  musketry  and  grape  of  literature.  Some  of 
these  must  tell,  since  they  are  so  numerous.  Here 
Truth  divides  herself  as  infinitesimally  as  Error, 
accommodates  herself  to  the  humblest  forms,  and 
leaps  about  as  nimbly  as  her  adroit  enemy,  where- 
ever  she  may  hope  to  find  an  antagonist.  Her  light 
armed  troops  skirmish  away  on  all  hands,  tell  at 
every  point,  in  flank  and  rear,  and  have  smitten  the 
enemy  hip  and  thigh,  while  it  is  only  now  and  then 
that  you  hear  the  roar  of  her  great  artillery,  slow, 
solemn,  and  ever  in  the  same  place — Error  actually 
dashing  up  under  the  smaller  of  her  guns,  and  seiz 
ing  upon  and  spiking  them,  in  the  very  teeth  of  the 
corpulent  matrosses.  But,  no  longer  to  pursue  one 
figure,  the  small  books  better  meet  the  exigency  of 
the  case,  are  better  adapted  to  the  sort  of  enemy 
they  deal  with,  are  more  prompt,  more  portable, 
more  numerous,  far  less  expensive,  and  much  more 
efficacious.  In  this  comparison,  it  is  not  meant  to 
disparage  the  venerable  folios.  They  are  a  sort  of 
depot — a  great  store-house — from  whence  the  flying 
artillery,  the  cavalry,  the  infantry,  the  scouts  and 
riflemen,  may  procure  their  missiles  as  they  are 
wanted.  Doubtless,  they  contain  immense  quarries 
of  very  precious  materials.  They  should  be  prized 


EGERIA.  185 

as  something  very  sacred,  and  watched  and  examined 
periodically  with  a  religious  scrutiny.  Good  men 
and  sage  should  be  chosen  to  have  them  in  careful 
keeping,  and  on  days  of  solemn  state  and  cere 
monial,  they  might  be  brought  forth  in  sight  of  all 
the  citizens,  in  order  that  they  should  be  sure  that 
the  moth  has  not  found  its  way  to  their  treasure. 
But  for  ordinary  people  and  ordinary  purposes,  we 
need  a  more  active  military. 

CROSS  PURPOSES. 

Louisa has  the  sharpest,  wittiest-looking 

eyes  in  the  world,  but  you  lose  sight  of  her  eyes  en 
tirely  when  she  begins  to  talk.  The  tongue  par 
takes  of  none  of  this  sharpness.  Hear  what  a  for 
mer  lover  says  on  this  incongruous  subject : 

How  different  from  Louisa's  tongue,  is  fair  Louisa's  eye, 

The  latter  never  opes,  but  forth  a  thousand  arrows  fly, 

While  from  the  former  tinkling  thing,  though  ever  on  the  stretch, 

Your  ears  may  carry  all  the  day,  but  nothing  pointed  fetch. 

THE  CERTAIN  EXECUTIONER. 

Medical  men,  as  well  as  lawyers,  have  been,  at  all 
times,  very  fair  game  for  the  satirist.  The  follow 
ing  is  rendered  from  Boileau.  The  Epigrammatist, 

16* 


186  EGERIA. 

who  thus  congratulates  himself,  in  the  language 
of  equal  defiance  and  indignation,  is  not  the  only- 
one  whose  security  from  danger  has  arisen  solely 
from  his  excessive  caution  against  all  risk : 

"  Your  uncle,"  said  you  ? — That  assassin 

Ne'er  prescribed  for  me,  when  ill  5 
I  never  took  his  medicine  ! — 

Behold  the  proof — I'm  living  still. 

BOOKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

Something  more  may  be  said  in  regard  to  the 
bulk  of  books  intended  for  the  use  of  mankind. 
The  subject  is  really  of  far  more  importance  than 
one  would  imagine,  and  to  be  rated  with  correctness 
only  by  a  recognition  of  the  inevitable  progress  of 
democracy.  No  doubt  that,  in  big  books  there  is 
much  philosophy — perhaps,  much  philosophy  could 
not  well  be  put  into  a  smaller  compass.  But,  for 
the  people — for  man  as  he  is —  a  creature  of  continual 
hurry — stricken  with  sudden  necessities — hastily 
and  perpetually  called  off  by  the  exigencies  of  life, 
much  philosophy  would  be  mostly  evil.  For  these 
your  philosophy  must  be  in  broken  doses.  Your 
books  must  be  small,  your  sentences  short,  your 
doctrines  in  a  nutshell.  The  laboring  man,  who  is 


EGERIA.  157 

yet  equally  a  reading  and  a  thinking  man,  must  have 
books  that  will  lie  snugly  in  his  pocket,  that  he  can 
draw  forth,  as  he  does  his  tobacco,  and  chew  upon 
as  he  traverses  the  highways  to  his  tasks.  The 
man  who  depends  for  his  daily  dinner  upon  his  daily 
toil,  cannot  lug  a  monstrous  volume  where  he  goes ; 
yet  we  must  not  leave  him  without  the  sort  of  ali 
ment  which  big  books  profess  to  bestow. — To  whom 
are  the  lessons  of  a  true  philosophy  and  a  pure 
morality  more  vitally  important  ?  For  whom,  in 
deed,  are  they  written,  if  not  for  him  ?  It  is  he  who 
has  fewest  friends  to  teach  and  to  forewarn — fewest 
resources  of  wealth,  fewest  attractions  in  society, 
fewest  means  of  consolation  and  comfort  in  the 
hours  of  exhaustion  and  suffering.  He  is  most  open 
to  temptations,  particularly  those  which  more  cer 
tainly  follow  upon  the  footsteps  of  want  and  desti 
tution,  than  in  the  wake  of  luxury  and  dissipation. 
It  is  he  who  is  most  exposed  to  the  presence  of  low 
vices,  to  the  evils  of  situation  and  contaminating 
associations.  These  are  the  dangers  which,  coming 
with  humble  pursuits  and  degrading  necessities,  are 
well  calculated,  by  insensible  degrees,  to  divest  him 
of  the  necessary  restraints  of  and  respect  for  society. 
Society  must  be  at  some  pains  to  prevent  this,  if  she 


188  EGERIA. 

values  her  own  safety.  She  must  let  him  see  that 
she  considers  him  her  son,  and  quite  as  legitimate 
as  any  of  his  better  brothers.  She  must  open  his 
eyes  upon  all  the  attractions  and  rewards  which 
belong  to  that  better  condition  in  which  virtue  is 
nothing  more  than  habit.  She  must  persuade  him 
that  to  this  condition  there  is  really  no  reason  why 
he  should  not  aspire  with  the  rest.  There  must  be 
books  made  for  him,  with  a  due  regard  to  his  igno 
rance,  his  wants,  his  poverty,  and  his  daily  exigen 
cies.  It  appears  to  us  the  most  monstrous  absurdity 
to  put  forth  great  volumes,  at  great  prices,  and  to 
call  upon  poverty  and  labor  not  only  to  read,  but  to 
pay  for  them ;  and,  as  they  fail  to  do  so,  then  de 
nounce  them  for  their  ignorance,  and  turn  away 
with  loathing  from  the  inferior  humanity  to  which 
we  offer  a  stone  in  place  of  bread.  We  must  do 
things  differently  if  we  hope  to  do  anything.  We 
must  put  up  our  philosophies  in  small  parcels,  at 
small  prices,  and  mark  them  for  the  people ;  only 
taking  care  that  Error  does  not  contrive,  disguising 
herself  like  truth,  to  find  her  way  into  the  parcel, 
and  thus  defeat  our  charity.  The  errors  of  small 
books  would  be  of  more  pernicious  effect  than  those 
of  large  ones.  In  the  latter  case,  they  would  sleep 


I 

EGERIA.  189 

in  immemorial  dust  upon  the  shelves  of  the  library ; 
in  the  former,  they  would  glide  everywhere  into  the 
heart  of  living  man. 

WHAT  FOR  DINNER! 

[Some  lessons  in  domestic  philosophy  may  be 
found  in  the  doggrel  which  follows,  something  which, 
while  it  shows  off  a  hungry  husband,  may  be  of  good 
service  to  a  prudent  wife.  We  can  assure  all  young 
women  that  the  counsel  in  the  last  two  verses  is  of 
the  last  importance  to  a  quiet  household.] 


Let  them  prate  of  love  who  will, 

Talk  of  sweet  romance  and  song, 
'Tis  the  dinner  bell  that  still 

Sets  all  right  that  late  was  wrong ; 
Here  is  logic,  law,  and  love, 

Deep'st  that  man  has  ever  known ; 
And  for  marriage  best  they  prove, 

Who  these  blessed  doctrines  own ! 
"  What  for  dinner,  prythee  say, 

Good  wife,  is  it  fish  or  flesh ; 
Roast  or  fricassee  to  day, 

Pickled  pork,  or  cutlet  fresh?" 


190  EGERIA. 

ii. 
"Hey  the  clatter,  hi  the  clatter, 

Plate  and  pitcher,  knife  and  fork ; 
'Tis  a  sacred,  solemn  matter, 

Serious  business,  mighty  work  ! 
Chair !  you  rascal ;  don't  stand  grinning, 

What  the  d — 1  do  you  there? — 
Not  now,  good  wife,  cease  that  dinning, 

It  is  too  annoying,  dear. 

What  for  dinner,  &c. 
in. 
Click  !  that  plate  was  nearly  gone, 

Fingers  are  all  thumbs,  I  think : 
Hand  the  bottle,  Cuffee,  John, 

Nerves  are  steadied  by  a  drink. 
Here,  you  rascal,  won't  you  move  ? 

Shall  I  break  your  skull  in  two  ? 
Don't  be  frightened  now,  my  love, 

It  is  what  I  shall  not  do. 

What  for  dinner,  &c. 

IV. 

Hey — what's  that — still  mutter,  mutter ! 

Pray,  my  dear,  be  quiet  now; 
I'd  rather  hear  you  squeal  or  stutter, 

Than  that  perpetual  bow,  wow,  wow. 


EGERIA.  191 

At  some  other  time  'twill  do, 

Haply  will  I  listen  then ; 
But  when  hungry,  there  are  few 

Listening  husbands  among  men. 

What  for  dinner,  &c. 

v. 

Till  the  first  attack  is  o'er, 

And  the  edge  of  appetite, 
Feeling  all,  is  felt  no  more, 

Losing  scent  and  sense  and  sight — 
Never  growl  of  house  affairs, 

Young  wife,  keep  your  chronicle, 
Hungry  husbands  have  no  ears, 

None  but  for  the  dinner  bell. 

What  for  dinner,  &c. 

THE  PERVERSE. 

We  are  apt  to  be  as  maliciously  hostile  to  our 
selves,  to  our  own  peace  and  happiness,  as  to  our 
neighbors,  and  this  too,  not  in  ignorance,  but  through 
pride,  vanity,  and  mere  perversity.  The  perverse 
is  one  of  the  most  mischievous  forms  of  human 
weakness : 


192  EGERIA. 

Life's  affluence  still  around  us,  how  we  scorn 
The  flower  she  brings  us,  grasping  still  the  thorn  ; 
We  seek  for  foreign  pleasures,  loth  to  see, 
What  fruits  and  blossoms  bless  our  garden  tree ; 
How  rich  the  light  our  evening  sun  bestows, 
With  what  soft  virgin  smile  our  moonlight  glows; 
What  music  times  our  fountain,  as  it  showers 
A  thousand  droplets  o'er  our  sunny  bowers ; 
How  sweet  the  bird  that  by  our  lattice  sings ; 
How  soft  the  breeze  that  soothes  us  with  its  wings : 
What  hopes  may  brighten  if  their  smiles  we  woo ; 
What  joys  make  captive,  if  we  but  pursue ; 
If  but  the  will  and  purpose  prompt  the  toil, 
What  conquests  crown,  how  exquisite  the  spoil! 
But  with  what  blindness  do  we  mock  the  prize 
Within  our  grasp,  imploring  still  our  eyes : 
Deny  the  loveliest  beauties  of  the  year, 
Reject  the  breeze,  the  song  that  comes  to  cheer, 
And  with  strange  passion  and  perverseness  fed, 
Create  the  very  monsters  that  we  dread! 

ROYAL  GREAT  ONES. 

Francis  the  First  and  Charles  the  Fifth  have  both 
received  the  surname  of  the  Great,  and  with  some  jus 
tice  we  may  recognise  the  application,  though  in  a 
different  sense  from  that  in  which  it  was  made. 
Francis  the  First  might  have  been  a  great  scoundrel 
had  he  not  been  too  great  a  fool ;  and  Charles  the 
Fifth  was  too  great  a  scoundrel  to  be  held  a  fool. 


EGERIA.  103 

Of  what  quality  were  the  people  and  the  courtiers 
to  whom  these  weak,  base  monarchs  were  the  gods  ? 

WHOLENESS  OF  TRUTH. 

But  we  must  not  forget  the  sacred  wholeness  of 
Truth.  In  putting  her  into  small  parcels,  we  must 
be  careful  to  diminish  none  of  her  proportions.  It 
is  one  important  element  of  her  character,  the  proof 
of  her  spirituality,  that  she  may  contract  herself  to 
any  dimensions,  yet  preserve  her  entircness  and 
symmetry.  She  must  be  symmetrical,  or  we  cannot 
love  her — she  must  be  perfect,  or  we  shall  not  re 
cognise  her.  No  writer  of  a  book  need  set  out  with 
the  design  to  make  a  moral.  If  he  does,  his  book 
will  be  very  apt  to  fail.  His  great  object  is  to 
make  his  narrative — be  it  history  or  fiction — and 
there  is  philosophy  in  both — entirely  truthful ;  and 
truthfulness,  even  in  the  delineation  of  a  vice  or  a 
crime,  always  carries  with  it  its  own  and  a  valuable 
moral.  The  most  moral  authors  that  the  world  has 
ever  known,  are  those  who  have  been  most  true  to 
nature :  to  nature  in  her  completeness — in  all  her 
essentials — and  not  in  partial  glimpses  of  her  per 
son.  When,  therefore,  an  author  proves  immoral 
in  his  results — even  supposing  that  he  sets  out  with 
17 


194  EGERIA. 

no  evil  intentions — the  inference  is  fair  that  he  is 
not  true  in  his  details.  He  may  give  you  glimpses 
of  the  truth,  but  they  are  glimpses  only.  The 
whole  truth  is  the  only  testimony  which  the  superior 
genius  indulges,  and  the  only  testimony  which  can 
properly  avail  for  his  case  before  the  awful  tribu 
nals  of  posterity.  It  is  the  lack  of  this  entireness, 
this  universal  singleness,  this  individual  essential, 
absorbing  all  the  rest,  that  has  surrendered  to  de 
feat,  and  given  up  to  oblivion,  many  a  noble  mind 
and  grasping  imagination.  The  world  has  known 
very  few  writers  who  have '  deliberately  set  out  to 
pervert  the  truth,  to  misrepresent  man,  to  deform 
nature,  and  to  debase  society !  The  Ethereges  and 
the  Rochesters,  were  vicious  men,  it  is  true,  but 
they  were  abandoned,  rather  in  consequence  of 
their  inferior  intellectual  nature,  than  because  of 
any  wilful  desire  to  do  wrong.  They  yielded  them 
selves,  without  examination,  to  the  habitual  vices 
and  tastes  of  their  period.  Genius,  it  must  be  re 
membered,  is  a  Seer  who  is  apt  to  see  false  visions 
as  well  as  true.  "  One-sidedness"  of  survey  is  that 
which  frequently  perverts  the  intellect,  which  would 
otherwise  honestly  pursue  the  truth.  The  truth 
naturally  eludes  such  visions.  She  has  a  thousand 
aspects,  and  they  see  but  one.  She  lies,  it  is  true, 


EGERIA.  195 

upon  the  surface,  but  who  shall  say  how  much  of 
her  there  is  below  it  ?  It  will  not  do  to  content 
ourselves  with  the  surface.  We  must  dig,  we  must 
dig  below  it,  we  must  explore.  Truth  has  breadth, 
depth,  length,  and  weight ;  and  we  shall  fail  to  say 
what  she  is  till  we  learn  what  these  are.  What  she 
requires,  follows  as  another  lesson.  Some  writers 
of  great  genius  succeed  wonderfully  in  giving  her 
surface.  They  show  one  of  her  aspects,  with  most 
singular  force  and  felicity ;  but  as  they  themselves 
see  but  her  surface  only,  they  show  no  more ;  and 
they  are  immoral  writers,  because  they  are  untrue. 
There  is  a  general  incoherence  in  the  tone  and 
temper  of  their  works — an  inconsistency  between 
the  character  and  the  doings  of  their  agents — which 
the  natural  world  never  presents  to  us.  To  write 
morally,  it  is  necessary  that  truth  in  the  general, 
and  truth  in  the  detail,  should  be  equally  attended 
to ;  if  not,  we  have  the  old  monster  of  character, 
the  half  woman,  the  half  fish,  described  by  the  Poet, 
in  reference  to  a  similar  topic : 

"  The  beauteous  maid, 

Proud  of  each  charm  above  the  waist  displayed  ; 
Below  a  loathsome  fish : — 

Such  is  the  book,  that  like  a  sick  man's  dreams, 
Deforms  all  shapes  and  mingles  all  extremes.'' 


196  EGERIA. 

LOVING  WISELY. 

To  love  wisely  is  not  so  easy  as  to  love  well ;  yet 
to  love  well,  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  first  love 

wisely. 

VOLTAIRE. 

There  is  an  eloquent  sketch  of  Voltaire,  by  Mrs. 
Shelley,  supposed  to  be  as  great  an  infidel  as  him 
self,  which  apologizes  for  him,  very  ingeniously,  at 
the  expense  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  But 
this  is  a  sort  of  plea  which  is  wholly  English.  Vol 
taire,  we  suspect,  did  not  care  a  straw  for  any 
church,  of  any  sect;  and  simply  assailed  that  of 
which  he  knew  most,  and  which  he  deemed  to  be 
most  vulnerable.  Voltaire's  infirmities  were  wit 
and  vanity ; — a  compound  that  usually  produces 
incredulity,  and  sometimes  infidelity.  His  faith  in 
himself  was  too  profound  to  have  admitted  much 
faith  in  God ;  and  this  is  the  evil,  we  are  inclined 
to  think,  which  is  the  source  of  most  of  the  revolu 
tions  of  France. 

DEVOTION  OF  PURPOSE. 

Thrice  satisfied  he, 

Who,  in  the  immeasurable  might  of  Love, 
Still  ready  for  all  sacrifice,  devotes 
His  manhood,  and  the  promise  of  his  days, 
To  the  one  object. 


EGERIA.  197 

ATTACHMENTS. 

Our  capacity  to  form  judicious  attachments,  docs 
not  so  much  depend  upon  our  capacity  to  think  and 
to  observe,  as  upon  the  vigilance  and  activity  of 
rare  instincts  which  have  been  tutored  by  necessi 
ties  and  trials. 

JUDGMENT. 

It  were  no  unchristian  mode  of  judging  others, 
were  we  as  willing  to  suppose,  in  them,  the  merits 
which  we  all  fancy  in  ourselves. 

SELF-MIRRORS. 

The  instinct  which  discerns  the  evil  motive  in  our 
neighbor,  proves  the  vice  in  question  to  be  active  at 
the  core  of  our  own  hearts. 

FEMALE  VIRTUE. 

The  delicacy  of  female  virtue  consists  wholly  in 
its  unconsciousness.  She  to  whom  you  can  teach 
nothing,  has  already  learned  the  worst  knowledge 
of  the  human  heart. 

OLD  AND  YOUNG. 
To  the  young  the  past  is  an  abyss ;  to  the  old  an 


198  EGERIA. 

eminence.  It  is  before  the  latter  that  the  abyss 
presents  itself,  from  the  edge  of  which  they  mourn 
fully  look  back  to  the  sunny  heights  which  they 
never  more  shall  tread. 

DULL  WEATHER. 

Now  close  the  door  and  bolt  the  shutter  fast, 
Make  sunshine  in  the  circle,  while  the  blast 
Shrieks  at  the  shutter ; — light  the  fires  within, 

While  coldly  the  dim  sunset  in  the  sky 
Fails,  as  of  wont,  the  upward  gaze  to  win, 

And  glooms  the  spirit  gazing  through  the  eye. 
We  are  but  creatures  of  the  exterior  world, 
With  all  our  soul  and  seeking ;  and  the  sphere 

Perforce,  that  we  inhabit,  still  must  share 

Our  sympathies,  and  touch  us  with  its  hues, 
Unless  with  will,  like  that  of  erst,  which  hurled 
Our  sire  from  thrones  he  knew  not  how  to  sway, 

With  the  endeavor  resolute,  we  shall  choose 
Our  own  dominion,  peopling  as  we  may. 
'Tis  with  us  still,  when  outward  sways  the  gloom, 
Within,  with  smiles  and  love,  our  homes  to  reillume. 

GOOD  ADVICE  FOR  THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY. 
It  is  warm  weather,  my  friends.     You  too  are  ex- 


EGERIA.  199 

pected  to  be  warm,  and  caloric  will  be  proper,  as  a 
first  element  on  the  national  anniversary.  The  sun 
will  shine  upon  the  troops  with  emulation  of  the 
brightness  of  the  stars,  buttons,  and  epaulettes. 
Burnished  helmets  will  reflect  back  all  his  glories, 
and  polished  sabres  stream  like  comets  in  his  glance. 
It  will  try  the  eyes  to  look  upon  the  spectacle. 
Keep  therefore,  as  much  in  the  shade  as  possible. 
Valor  does  not  require  you  to  expose  yourself. 
Nor  will  it  need  that,  before  you  sally  forth  at  day 
light,  you  should  resort  to  any  "  Dutch  courage,"  in 
the  shape  of  strong  drink,  to  inspire  you  with  the 
necessary  enthusiasm.  In  delivering  the  feu-de- 
joic,  beware  that  the  lock  of  your  brother  soldier's 
musket  is  not  too  familiar  with  your  left  whisker. 
To  be  compelled  to  despatch  your  right,  in  a  search 
after  its  companion,  is  a  sad  thing  to  be  thought  of 
in  these  piping  times  of  war.  If  you  attend  any  of 
the  orators,  don't  let  them  excite  you  to  any  extrava- 
gcnt  act  of  patriotism.  Go  home  peaceably  if  you 
can — follow  the  shady  side  of  the  street,  and  drink, 
by  the  way  of  no  mineral  waters  having  in  them 
sulphur  and  carbon.  Get  quietly  to  your  chamber, 
strip,  bathe,  and  take  a  siesta  of  eleven  minutes — 
no  more — then  dress  for  dinner  with  your  Society. 


200  EGEBIA. 

When  delivering  yourself  of  your  toast  take  care 
that  you  say  only  what  you  intend,  and,  above  all 
things,  do  not  let  your  ambition  promise  more  than 
your  heart  will  enable  you  to  perform.  If  you 
would  pun  at  table  use  red  pepper  in  your  soup.  If, 
at  the  close  of  the  feast,  you  are  doubtful  of  the 
prudence  which  should  direct  your  footsteps,  drop  in 
at  the  police  office  and  request  a  companion.  Do 
not  linger  under  any  of  the  lamp-posts  by  the  way, 
for  most  gases  are  inflammable,  and  acting  on  each 
other,  the  chances  are  that  you  or  the  lamp  may 
suffer  by  it.  Retire  to  bed  at  an  early  hour,  and  if 
you  have  any  feeling  of  that  sort,  there  is  no  reason 
that  you  should  not  mingle  "  Hail  Columbia"  with 
your  prayers. 

VICE  SHORT-LIVED. 

How  much  easier  would  our  virtues  be  of  attain 
ment,  if  we  could  only  remember  always  how  short 
lived  are  all  the  enjoyments  of  vice.  Give  them 
the  whole  seventy  years  of  our  allotment,  and  how 
infinitely  nothing  is  the  whole  sum  of  being  upon 
which  even  the  most  selfish  worldling  would  insist. 


EGERIA.  201 

CHTLD-ANGELS. 

Why  should  there  not  be  child-angels — dear  and 
infant  forms  with  wings — as  well  as  those  which  can 
tutor  and  direct  us  even  while  they  serve  ?  It  does 
not  follow  that  a  perfect  condition  of  happiness  im 
plies  a  monotonous  equality  of  strength  and  stature 
in  the  realms  and  principalities  assigned  to  the 
abodes  of  the  blessed. 

THE  FUTURE. 

It  is  strange  that,  knowing  nothing  of  the  future 
ourselves,  we  should  still  be  unwilling  to  trust  our 
selves  implicitly  to  that  guidance  which  has  already 
carried  us  so  far  in  safety. 

COMMUNITIES. 

Ancient  communities  which,  at  the  same  time, 
remain  stationary,  making  no  progress,  are  apt 
always  to  refine  at  their  own  expense.  In  such, 
the  tastes  ripen  at  the  expense  of  the  energies  ;  and 
refinement,  when  it  becomes  fastidiousness,  is  fatal 
to  performance.  The  dangerous  point  to  which 
such  a  community  can  arrive,  is  when  it  becomes 
habitually  critical.  When  the  Athenian  mob  could 
teach  an  actor  the  right  reading,  Athens  was  no 


202  EGERIA. 

longer  a  power.  It  was  ready  for  overthrow.  A 
community  of  critics  will  lack  the  courage  to  do 
anything  but  criticise.  They  will  dread  to  incur, 
by  performance,  the  severities  which  it  has  been 
their  pleasure  to  pass  upon  their  neighbors.  Such 
a  community  will  tell  you  of  the  burr  in  the  voice, 
the  grammatical  slip,  of  the  uncouth  expression  of 
the  great  orator,  while  all  the  world  hangs  with 
tears  and  tumultuous  delight  upon  the  magnificent 
flow  of  his  thought — the  glorious  sweep  of  his  ima 
gination.  They  are  quite  too  nice  to  be  wise — too 
correct  to  be  courageous — too  solicitous  of  their 
own  utterance  to  hear  the  words  of  wisdom  or 
genius,  or  to  gather  truth  or  inspiration  from  the 
lips  of  others. 

MORAL  PROGRESS. 

Patriotism  declaims  a  great  deal  about  our  moral 
progress,  but  is  it  so  sure  that  we  are  making  any  ? 
Novelties  of  invention  do  not  establish  the  fact  of 
moral  superiority.  They  simply  confirm  an  old 
truth,  that  the  worldly  capacities  of  man  are  always 
equal  to  his  necessities  and  actual  condition.  Our 
discoveries  merely  seem  to  keep  pace  with  our  en 
larging  empire  and  the  wants  that  a  new  condition 


EGERIA.  203 

will  naturally  exhibit.  These  necessities  are  really 
not  of  a  kind  to  bring  out  into  more  ample  exercise 
the  moral  energies  of  which  our  nature  is  suscepti 
ble.  They  address  themselves  to  our  economies, 
rather  than  to  our  genius,  except  where  the  latter 
is  inspired  by  the  ambition  to  gratify  animal  passions 
or  to  overcome  physical  impediments.  Our  progress 
seems  to  be  mechanical  and  animal,  rather  than 
moral.  In  morals,  I  suspect  that  the  age  is  pretty 
much  where  it  was  a  thousand  years  ago.  In  what 
is  the  morality  of  the  British  conquest  over  the 
Chinese,  superior  to  that  of  the  Norman  sea-chivalry 
in  the  time  of  Charlemagne  ?  How  is  the  Christianity 
of  French  conquest  in  Algeria,  superior  to  the 
ordinary  moral  exhibitions  of  the  British,  French, 
Spanish,  and  Italian,  during  the  reigns  of  Louis  the 
Twelfth,  Henry  the  Eighth,  Charles  the  Bold,  Fer 
dinand  the  Catholic,  and  Pope  Julius  II. — or  any 
reigns  in  Europe  for  three  hundred  years  before  ? 
And  the  moral  progress  depends  upon  just  such 
comparison.  Does  the  question  show  other  results 
when  it  relates  to  purely  intellectual  matters  ?  The 
exact  sciences  move  in  natural  progression — we  may 
venture  to  say  this,  though  with  some  hesitation, 
since  it  is  difficult  to  say  how  much  of  the  ancient 


204  E  a  KHI  A. 

inheritance  our  own  barbarous  progenitors  destroyed. 
But  for  the  inexact,  which  are  the  truly  moral  por 
tions  of  the  mental  nature — those  which  we  may 
not  group  in  a  square  or  reckon  by  figures — those 
which  involve  the  attributes  of  taste,  and  appeal  to 
the  agency  of  the  imagination — these  are,  if  not 
absolutely  retrograde,  scarcely  more  advanced  than 
they  were  in  the  days  of  Homer.  The  centuries 
seem  to  move  in  a  circle  rather  than  to  advance, 
and  we  do  little  more  than  retrace  their  ancient 
movements.  Our  discoveries  are  such  as  we  fre 
quently  find  to  have  been  used  three  thousand  years 
ago.  The  ages  seem  to  propose  to  themselves  no 
goal  to  which  they  advance  with  steadfast  direction. 
We  set  off,  every  now  and  then,  with  a  fresh  impulse, 
as  if  the  ground  was  new  and  the  pathway  yet  to  be 
laid  open,  but  find  ourselves,  after  a  while,  at  the 
well  known  starting-place.  We  meet  at  every  step, 
the  traces  of  some  former  progress,  if  not  of  our 
own.  Old  records  freshen  at  every  step,  and,  like 
the  traveller  in  the  Arabian  legend,  we  find  the 
barriers  recede  as  we  advance,  but  still  enough  re 
main  to  show  that  they  at  least  are  impassable. 
Time  will  not  suffer  us  to  escape  him.  He  travels 
still  in  our  company,  and  our  defeats  only  declare 


EGERIA.  205 

his  limitations  no  less  than  our  own.  Our  stages 
are  his  also ;  though  our  seasons  vary,  and  we  have 
still  a  hope,  which  he  does  not  pretend  to  share. 
Indeed,  Human  Life,  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  is 
nothing  more  than  human  life.  That  we  are  not 
all  human,  is  a  fact  which  does  not  seem  much  to 
interfere  with  our  merely  human  progress.  Here 
are  our  metes  and  bounds — here  rise  our  Alps. 
Thus  far  may  we  go  and  no  farther.  Life  makes 
but  little  progress  out  of  the  path  of  time.  The 
1  Everlasting-to-be  which  hath  been,'  is  the  destiny 
more  inflexible  in  the  eye  of  mortal  ambition  than 
any  of  the  rest.  It  does  not  seem  to  forbid  improve 
ment,  but  it  prevents  advance.  In  vain  do  we  enu 
merate  our  achievements.  We  share  them  only  with 
the  past.  Our  books,  our  arts,  our  sciences,  our 
skill,  our  valor,  our  songs,  our  seers — they  are  those 
of  the  buried  ages.  The  giants  who  have  gone  be 
fore  us  in  point  of  time,  have  gone  before  us, 
in  achievements  also.  We  have  superseded  them 
with  others,  but  are  we  sure  that  we  have  sur 
passed  them  in  their  inventions  ?  If  we  have  found 
some  things  of  our  own,  we  have  lost  some  of  theirs, 
which  were  probably  quite  as  valuable,  anci  certainly 
quite  as  much  suited  to  their  wantg  as  the  present 
18 


206  EGERIA. 

are  to  ours.  And  who  shall  pretend  to  say  that 
our  very  discoveries  have  not  simply  arisen  because 
of  our  ill  success  in  retracing  theirs.  What,  in 
fact,  have  we  to  brag  of?  Nothing,  perhaps,  unless 
in  some  vague  conviction  in  our  times,  not  of  recep 
tion  in  theirs,  of  a  universal  humanity.  To  have 
discovered  man,  as  an  estate,  is  something.  Yet 
this,  by  the  way,  was  the  great  revelation  brought 
to  us  by  Christ ! — Otherwise  the  ancients  are  still 
our  tutors,  our  models,  and  our  masters.  We  copy 
their  labors,  while  we  clamor  for  their  immortality. 
We  strive  for  the  eminence,  and  lo !  we  find  old 
names  written  on  our  monuments.  We  are  like  the 
pioneer,  who,  exploring  what  he  deems  an  unknown 
wilderness,  finds,  suddenly,  to  his  horror  and  sur 
prise,  the  gashes  in  the  tree,  of  the  very  axe  which 
he  carries  upon  his  shoulder. 

ATTRIBUTES  OF  LOVE. 

If  Love  had  not  an  understanding  eye, 

If  Love's  eye  had  not  comprehensive  speech, 

If  Love  were  not  a  thing  of  memory, 

Or  if  to  aught  but  Love,  Love  aught  could  teach, 

How  much,  sweet  heart,  have  I  said  fruitlessly, 
How  much  fond  speech  were  thrown  away  on 
thee : 


EGERIA.  207 

How  much  have  both  remembered  bootlessly, 
How  much  have  others  seen,  who  should  not  see ; 

How  profligate  our  hearts  of  moments  wasted ; 
How  vain  the  fond  expectancies  that  led ; 

How  wild  the  dreams  whose  raptures  sleep  untasted  ; 
How  sad  the  sweet  delusions  which  have  fed ; 

The  heart's  whole  being  from  this  danger  shrinks  ! 

Yet  Love  is  no  such  profligate,  methinks ! 

PASSIONS  AND  VIRTUES. 

To  survive  the  passions,  without  having  matured 
the  virtues,  is  to  expend  our  capital  without  taking 
the  customary  securities. 

LOVE. 

Better  love  in  vain  than  leave  the  heart  unem 
ployed. 

CONVERSATION. 

The  high  and  proper  signification  of  the  word 
"conversation,"  seems  now  to  be  lost  from  society. 
A  fine  strain  of  dilation,  such  as  came  from  that 
old  man,  eloquent  Coleridge,  is  voted  declamation 
and  impertinence,  by  that  vulgar  vanity,  which,  in 
its  own  perpetual  hunger  to  be  heard,  is  angry, 


208  EGERIA. 

though  a  God  should  speak. — Instead  of  conversa 
tion,  nowadays,  what  have  we  ?  The  "  wishy- 
washy  everlasting  flood"  of  drivel — an  idiot's  tale — 
signifying  nothing,  not  even  sound  and  fury. 

CONSOLATIONS  OF  BEGGARY. 

I  suppose  that  the  beggar  finds  some  consolation 
in  the  thought  that  he  shall  one  day  cease  to  starve. 

DEATH. 

After  all,  how  grateful  is  the  certainty  of  death ! 
What  a  world  of  consolation  is  contained  in  the  as 
surance  of  the  Scriptures,  that  there  shall  come  a 
season,  and  be  a  place  of  refuge,  when  and  where 
the  wicked  shall  cease  from  troubling  and  the  weary 
shall  find  rest.  True  virtue  consists  in  the  struggle, 
I  admit ;  but  it  does  not  cease  to  be  virtue,  that  we 

should  seek  repose  after  the  victory  is  won. 

« 

ENTHUSIASM. 

Enthusiasm  is  unquestionably  a  virtue,  the  wing 
and  impulse  to  all  other  virtues.  But,  in  the  absence 
of  virtue  itself,  the  most  sovereign  impertinence. 
Habitual  enthusiasm  is  a  child  of  the  blood,  and  not 
of  the  principles.  But  it  is  not  the  less  to  be  enter- 


EGERIA.  209 

tained  or  valued  on  this  account ;  since  the  blood  is 
the  life  of  the  passions,  and  where  there  are  no  pas 
sions,  there  can  be  no  virtues.  Enthusiasm  in  the 
young,  coupled  with  reverence  and  faith,  proves  all 
right.  Bui,  lacking  the  latter,  it  makes  a  tyranny 
of  the  mind  which  feels  its  impulses,  and  in  the  dis 
eased  growth  of  self-esteem,  which  it  occasions,  it 
defeats  all  usefulness. 

HABITUAL  IMPULSE. 

Habitually  enthusiastic  people  are  never  so  happy 
as  when  they  are  endeavoring  to  save  you  from 
yourself.  It  is,  however,  fortunate  that  the  passion 
which  informs  such  persons,  is  one  of  peculiar  in 
stability  and  caprice.  Their  ambition  is  to  be  doing, 
no  matter  what,  so  that  the  blood  be  exercised ;  and 
uninformed  by  principle,  and  without  any  special 
object  in  their  ministry,  they  so  divide  their  industry 
among  the  many,  as  to  render  endurable  the  suffer 
ings  of  each.  A  firm  show  of  resistance  soon  ba 
nishes  the  tormentor,  who  does  not  feel  any  defeat  or 
disappointment  in  being  compelled  to  transfer  his 
dispensations  from  Jack  to  Jonathan. 


210  EGERIA. 

SINCERITY. 

Our  loves  are  but  the  mirrors  of  our  lives.  Our 
affections  go  with  our  virtues.  We  do  not  truly 
honor  the  beauty  which  we  do  not  seek.  No  one 
acknowledges  the  Deity  to  whom  he  does  not  some 
where  construct  an  altar. 

ZEAL. 

Zeal  too  frequently  commits  the  error  of  cupidity, 
in  its  eagerness  to  realize  its  fruits.  The  history  of 
the  Jesuits  would  furnish  the  most  admirable  ex 
ample  for  the  training  of  the  zealot,  so  that  his  hand 
shall  never  close  upon  his  bird  a  moment  before  the 
time.  To  plant  the  seed  and  wait  patiently  for  the 
growth,  is  one  of  the  loveliest  studies  of  religion. 
It  is  faith  alone  that  is  ever  suffered  to  behold  the 
dead  staff  blossom  full  of  leaves. 

CRUDE  VIRTUES. 

What  we  call  vice  in  our  neighbor  may  be  nothing 
less  than  a  crude  virtue.  To  him  who  knows 
nothing  more  of  precious  stones  than  he  can  learn 
from  a  daily  contemplation  of  his  breast-pin,  a  dia 
mond  in  the  mine  must  be  a  very  unpromising  sort 
of  stone. 


EGERIA.  211 

VERSE. 

It  is  thought  strange  that  poets  should  write  verse 
before  prose ;  but  verse  is  the  natural  language  of 
the  poet.  His  freedom,  spirit  and  grace  of  expres 
sion,  come  to  him  in  metrical  compositions,  much 
sooner  than  in  the  ordinary  forms  of  speech.  Rhythm 
is  his  vernacular,  and  it  requires  some  effort  and 
much  practice,  even  when  he  would  write  prose,  to 
avoid  running  into  the  regular  cadences  of  verse. 

USES  OF  TOMTITS. 

I  really  cannot  see  why  a  fop  should  not  be  con 
sidered  quite  as  necessary  to  the  human  family  as  a 
philosopher.  He  has  his  uses,  if  only  to  be  laughed 
at.  He  may  not  be  useful  to  many,  but  he  is  apt 
to  be  agreeable  to  more ;  and  he  who  pleases,  is 
quite  as  dear  as  he  who  serves  us.  Nobody  quarrels 
with  the  jay,  because  you  cannot  devour  him  with  the 
same  satisfaction  which  a  partridge  gives  on  table ; 
and  the  silly  tomtit,  if  not  so  venerable  a  bird  as 
the  owl,  is  less  destructive  to  the  chickens.  I  sup 
pose  that  fops  and  dandies  bear  just  about  the  same 
relation  to  the  human  family  as  jays,  parrots,  and 
such  like,  to  the  feathered  tribes.  Wits,  and  mimics, 


212  EGERIA. 

and  satirists,  may  be  likened  to  mocking-birds ; 
statesmen  and  philosophers,  to  owls  and  other  birds 
that  see  by  night ;  politicians  to  bats  and  sparrow- 
hawks  ;  and  warriors  to  vultures,  eagles,  and  other 
voracious  feeders,  carrying  great  beaks,  big  beards 
and  brows,  and  awfully  long  teeth  and  talons. 

PAST  AND  PRESENT. 

The  present  is  always  an  eminence,  yet  who  that 
stands  upon  it  is  ever  quite  satisfied  with  the  pro 
vinces  within  his  vision  ?  In  due  degree  with  our 
years,  we  look  forward  or  backward,  upward  or 
around.  To  the  old,  the  heights  most  precious  are 
those  upon  which  the  sunshine  rests,  the  mellow 
lights  of  evening,  gleaming  faintly  upon  the  moun 
tain  tops  behind  :  to  the  young,  they  are  those  of 
morning,  shining  gaily  upon  the  purple  summits 
that  stretch  away  before.  Neither  is  satisfied  with 
the  eminences  gained,  the  one  at  the  cost  of  a  life, 
the  other  of  a  hope,  and  both  at  the  peril  of  equal 
life  and  hope. 

GOOD  AND  EVIL  GENII. 

The  Indians  fable,  that  there  is  always  one  hour 
in  the  twenty-four  when  the  good  genius  of  a  man 


EGERIA.  213 

deserts  him,  being  compelled  in  that  time  to  fly  to 
Heaven  for  instructions.  In  that  hour,  should  his 
evil  genius  happen  to  find  it  out,  he  can  ruin  him 
with  all  imaginable  ease.  It  is  the  misfortune  of 
some  men,  that  the  good  genius  deserts  them  most 
of  the  time,  and  it  is  the  evil  principle  that  only 
leaves  them  for  an  hour.  This  brief  space  of  time 
affords  the  better  genius  but  little  opportunity. 
With  such  persons,  self  strives  ever  against  self— 
the  right  hand  against  the  left — and  each  day  brings 
its  own  suicide  of  soul.  They  need  no  enemy  for 
their  destruction,  and,  with  a  strange  and  mistaken 
charity  for  the  devil,  anticipate  his  efforts  and 
lighten  his  labors. 

PERFORMANCE. 

To  suppose  that  nothing  remains  to  be  done,  is  to 
assume  that  WTC  are  perfect.  If  life  consist  in  self- 
development,  the  labor  cannot  cease  except  with 
life  itself.  Each  day  brings  its  own  duty,  and  every 
step,  forwards  and  upwards,  but  shows  us  new  plains 
to  cross  and  new  heights  to  overcome. 

PACUVIUS. 
They  tell  a  scandalous  story  of  Pacuvius,  the 


214  EGERIA. 

Roman  dramatist.  He  had  three  wives,  all  of 
whom  hanged  themselves ; — a  remarkable  felicity 
of  fortune,  it  was  said  by  the  Stoics — but  not  more 
remarkable  than  the  additional  circumstance,  that 
they  all  hanged  themselves  on  the  very  same  tree. 
Pacuvius  one  day  lamented  this  fortune  to  his 
friend  Attius,  another  poet,  who  had  never  had  but 
the  one  wife ;  and  she,  it  seems,  had  never  shown 
the  slightest  disposition  to  hang  herself  anywhere, 
unless  around  the  neck  of  her  husband.  Attius 
confounded  the  complaining  bard  by  earnestly  beg 
ging  for  a  slip  of  the  same  tree,  that  he  might  set  it 
out  in  his  own  garden.  The  story  is  more  com 
pactly  versified  by  our  satirist. 

Pacuvius  thus  lamented  to  his  friend: — 

"  On  the  same  tree  my  three  wives  made  their  end ; — 

His  wedded  friend  had  ready  sympathy — 

"Ah!  to  my  garden  pray  transplant  that  tree!" 

ROMAN  HIGHWAYS. 

The  highest  proofs  remaining  to  the  world  of 
Roman  genius  and  strength,  are  in  the  magnificence 
of  their  highways.  Milton  has  given  us  a  bird's- 
eye  view  of  their  extent,  and  the  wondrous  regions 
to  which  they  conducted.  But  it  should  not  be 
denied  to  a  humbler  muse  to  bear  testimony  also. 


EGERIA.  215 

We  cannot  see  the  end,  which  yet  we  know, 
The  wondrous  end !  Thither  our  footsteps  seek 
The  Northern  countries,  by  the  Emilian  way 
Even  to  the  British  West.     The  Appian  road 
Could  the  eye  follow,  would  conduct  its  flight 
Where  the  East  opens  the  broad  gates  of  day! — • 
— And  this  is  Conquest — to  ascend  the  peak, 
To  pierce  stern  rocks,  and  bid  wild  waters  flow, 
Lay  bare  the  forest  paths,  and  send  abroad 
Swift  messengers, — it  may  be  with  the  scourge, 
Needful  the  fiery  savage  to  subdue. 
Ere  from  the  barren  of  his  mental  night, 
To  the  great  consciousness,  he  may  emerge, 
Of  what  in  nature  and  himself  is  true  ! 

SOLITUDE. 

He  who  goes  into  the  Solitude^  seeking  its  secu 
rities,  goes  into  his  own  heart  and  entreats  God  to 
its  examination.  Let  such  persons  lay  it  honestly 
bare,  without  reservation  or  concealment,  and  no 
doubt  all  its  hurts  will  be  made  whole.  But  the 
security  which  one  seeks  must  be  in  the  nature  of  a 
surrender  and  a  sacrifice ;  and  in  laying  his  heart 
thus  bare,  he  must  be  prepared  to  fling  away  the 
worser  part  as  a  burnt  offering,  to  "live  the  purer 
with  the  better  half." 


216  EGERIA. 

SEVERITY  OF  JUDGMENT. 

The  indignation  which  we  proclaim  at  the  faults 
and  errors  of  our  neighbor,  is  always  loud  in  due 
degree  with  our  anxiety  to  conceal  our  own  defi 
ciencies  of  the  same  description.  We  would  all  of 
us  seem  desirous  to  avoid  the  danger  of  suspicion 
and  detection,  by  showing  that  we  at  least  have  no 
reluctance  to  hurl  the  first  stone.  It  would  be  the 
most  terrible  misfortune  to  the  wrong-doer,  were  he 
always  yielded  up  to  the  tender  mercies  of  those 
who  are  themselves  guilty. 

WITNESSES  AGAINST  US. 

Have  I  any  reason  to  doubt  that  the  bird  which 
chirrups  in  my  evening  walk,  as  if  thus  decreed  to 
be  the  minister  to  my  happiness,  is  also  conscious 
that  I  enjoy  his  attentions,  and  that  his  antics  and 
his  song  are  not  in  vain  ?  If  thus  decreed  to  minis 
ter,  he  is  probably  not  ignorant  of  his  uses,  and 
knows  my  duties  as  he  does  his  own.  Alas  !  if  this 
be  true,  what  thousand  witnesses  exist  against  us, 
whom  we  have  never  feared,  who  can  testify  to  our 
improvidence,  our  hardness  of  heart,  our  profligacy 
and  wantonness — our  selfish  enjoyment  of  the  bless- 


EGBRIA.  217 

ing,  without  making  the  acknowledgment  —  our 
thoughtless  indifference  to  the  humble  servant  who 
has  served  without  favor,  and  has  perished  without 
reward. 

THE  WORST  ENEMIES. 

Our  worst  enemies  are  those  who  have  wronged 
us  and  whom  we  have  forgiven.  Their  continued 
hostility  is  only  a  proof  that  they  have  not  yet  for 
given  themselves. 

WANTS  AND  NECESSITIES. 

Our  absolute  necessity  is  one  thing  which  we  need 
not  here  consider.  But  the  numerous  wants  of  man 
are  due  quite  as  much  to  his  social  condition  as  to 
his  nature.  It  is  not  inconsistent  with  a  proper 
humility  that  he  should  desire  to  sustain  himself  in 
the  estimation  of  his  caste  and  family ;  nor  is  there 
any  reproach  to  his  religion,  if,  while  he  neglects  no 
becoming  duty  or  relation,  he  seeks  still  to  rise 
above  the  social  condition  in  which  he  finds  himself. 

IMPOLICY  OF  INFERIOR  STANDARDS. 

There  can  be  no  greater  error  in  the  policy  of 
society,  than  in  placing  too  humble  an  estimate  upon 
19 


218  EGEIIIA. 

humanity.  To  suppose  men  base  is  to  make  them 
so.  It  is  in  proportion  to  the  exactions  and  expec 
tations  of  society  that  they  rise  or  fall.  We  endow 
the  individual  to  whom  we  open  the  moral  vista ;  we 
drive  him  to  utter  despair  if  we  show  the  gates 
shut  against  him.  To  insist  upon  his  susceptibilities 
for  excellence,  is  in  most  cases  to  make  him  excel. 
We  may  punish  a  fault,  but  not  by  exposure.  To 
disgrace  the  offender  is  to  destroy  him.  Eugene 
Sue  makes  a  case  of  this  sort  in  the  instance  of 
Chourineur,  who  is  rescued  from  the  stews  of  Paris, 
by  being  simply  taught  that,  whatever  his  vices  and 
degradation,  Tie  has  not  lost  his  honor  ;  has  not  sunk 
into  obtuseness  in  regard  to  his  condition,  and  is 
not  beyond  regeneration  and  redemption.  Would 
you  have  your  beast  become  a  man,  do  not  forget 
your  own  humanity — would  you  have  him  a  gentle 
man,  treat  him  as  if  you  thought  it  easy  for  him  to 
become  one ! 

VANITY. 

Vanity  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  perfect 
sources  of  the  amiable.  Those  who  live  upon  the 
praises  of  their  neighbors,  must  expect  to  pay  for 
them.  They  are  amiable  and  solicitous,  indulgent 


EGERIA.  219 

\ 

and  agreeable, — for  a  consideration.  Deny  these 
persons  the  aliment  they  seek  —  only  suggest  a 
doubt  of  their  perfection — and  the  shock  you  give 
to  self-esteem  endangers  the  whole  fabric  of  its 
virtues.  To  be  truly  amiable,  one  must  show  that 
he  does  not  lose  his  temper  in  the  mortification  of 
his  vanity — a  painful  test  which  very  amiable  people 
find  it  difficult  to  undergo. 

PROGRESS  IN  RELIGION. 

"Why  should  religion  not  be  as  susceptible  of  pro 
gress  as  any  other  of  our  human  interests  ?  Every 
day  brings  with  it  a  new  revelation,  which  needs  to 
be  incorporated  with  the  faith  which  we  profess. 
Should  not  the  Church  accommodate  herself  to  the 
intellectual  advances  of  the  race,  if  only  to  meet 
the  demands  of  a  higher  condition  of  the  mental 
nature  ?  It  was  thus,  step  by  step,  in  ancient  times, 
as  the  Jews  made  progress,  that  new  prophets  ap 
peared  to  gather  up  the  proofs,  and  work  them  into 
the  common  law  of  doctrine.  A  certain  condition 
reached,  and  God  vouchsafed  them  the  Saviour, 
bringing  with  him  the  proofs  of  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  and  the  necessity,  as  well  as  the  means,  of 
salvation.  In  the  abundance  of  present  doctrine, 


220  EGERIA. 

there  seems  no  progress.  This  is  one  of  the  great 
sources  of  lukewarmness  in  a  flock.  The  mind  is 
taught  a  progress  in  all  other  matters.  The  intel 
lect  has  gone  beyond  the  heart.  The  faith  keeps 
no  pace  with  the  thought  of  man,  which,  it  seems 
to  me,  it  might  do.  It  certainly  would  not  impair 
the  future  destinies  of  the  individual,  if,  through 
superior  sagacity,  or  a  more  fortunate  inspiration, 
he  should  become  conscious,  while  in  his  mortal 
state,  of  some  few  more  of  those  spiritual  truths 
which  he  is  fated  to  realize  in  the  future. 

HOPES  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

What,  less  than  the  hope  of  meeting  them  again, 
could  console  us  in  this  life  for  the  loss  of  relations 
and  friends.  The  desire  which  we  feel,  is  perhaps 
the  best  evidence  which  we  can  have,  that  such  will 
be  the  case.  This  is  the  consolation,  too,  that  waits 
upon  death,  disarming  many  of  the  terrors  that 
throng  about  the  anxious  spirit,  on  the  verge  of  its 
own  departure.  We  look  with  eager  hope  to  the 
crowd  that  we  expect  to  welcome  us,  and  thus  cheer 
fully  resign  ourselves  to  the  separation  from  the 
crowd  to  whom  we  bid  farewell.  On  either  hand 
there  is  a  hope  as  well  as  a  tie. 


EGERIA.  221 

THE  LIFE  JOURNEY. 

,  It  is  an  open  path  that  we  are  all  travelling,  though 
it  closes  in  a  forest.  To  all,  the  path  is  more  or 
less  agreeable ;  for  few,  it  seems,  are  anxious  that 
it  should  terminate.  The  forest,  and  the  sights  and 
scenes  that  we  may  there  encounter,  may  well  occa 
sion  us  to  pause.  How  doubtful, — how  terrible  is 
the  doubt !  Happy  he,  who,  looking  forward  with 
hope  and  inward  assurance,  can  see  glimpses  of  the 
green  fields  opening  beyond  in  the  sunlight ! 

TEARS  OF  CHILDHOOD. 

The  tears  of  childhood  invigorate  the  affections, 
even  as  the  tempest  clears  a  pathway  for  the  sun  in 
heaven.  They  disperse  the  clouds  which  settle  about 
the  head  and  heart,  and  bring  back  the  morning  even 
in  the  closing  of  the  day. 

ORIGIN. 

No  doubt,  if  one  looks  back  sufficiently  far,  he 
will  find  a  base  beginning  for  his  stock.  But  one 
whom  we  find  always  looking  back  to  the  original 
puddle,  would  prove  to  us  that  his  peril  lay  in  hav 
ing  a  base  conclusion  also. 
19* 


222  EGERIA. 

PETTY  CARES. 

Petty  cares  make  one  selfish  and  querulous.  He 
can  only  rise  above  them,  with  an  equable  mood, 
who  can  keep  his  passions  in  subjection  to  his  intel 
lect. 

EFFECT  OF  TROUBLES. 

Small  necessities  and  inferior  trials  affect  the 
temper  rather  than  the  heart.  It  is  the  great 
trouble  only  that,  seizing  the  heart  by  the  roots,  and 
riving  it  in  all  its  arteries,  as  the  tempest  rends  and 
rives  the  oak,  informs  the  mortal  nature  with  a 
sweet  humanity. 

TEACHING  AND  TRAINING. 

Events,  however  small,  in  the  lives  of  children, 
are  things  of  more  vast  importance  to  the  race,  than 
those  leading  occurrences  which  make  the  nations 
anxious.  The  occurrences  of  childhood,  more  or 
less,  involve  principles ;  and  these  are  never  insig 
nificant  matters,  though  they  take  place  in  trifles, 
and  relate  to  sports  and  toys.  A  principle  is  never 
a  small  matter.  A  principle  may  be  regarded  as 
the  parent  of  a  thousand  dependencies,  which,  like 


EGERIA.  223 

other  subordinates,  would  be  unruly,  were  not  the 
governing  power  there  to  keep  them  in  order.  A 
fixed  principle  guides  the  subordinate  thoughts  of 
the  mind,  or  they  rob  it  of  all  sanity.  Thus,  the 
power  which  propels  the  steamboat  and  the  stage — 
which  provides  a  city  with  bread,  or  consumes  it — 
is  a  single  power,  and  only  works  in  these  different 
ways,  and  for  these  different  objects,  however  dis 
tinct,  in  obedience  to  the  solitary  agency  to  which 
they  are  subject.  A  principle  impressed  upon  the 
child,  through  the  medium  of  those  trifling  events 
of  which  his  early  life  is  commonly  made  up,  be 
comes  a  habit — as  much  so  as  the  washing  his  face 
and  hands  of  a  morning.  It  forms  for  his  govern 
ment,  what  we  call,  a  standard  of  the  mind.  By 
this  standard  of  the  mind,  which,  as  a  habit,  is 
familiar,  and  at  his  fingers'  ends  at  all  times,  he  is 
enabled  to  determine  upon  his  proper  conduct,  and 
what  he  should  do,  however  novel  or  unusual  may 
be  his  situation.  If,  for  example,  his  father  has 
made  it  a  point  with  him  to  speak  the  truth  at  all 
times,  and  under  every  circumstance  —  as  every 
father  should  do — if  he  has  tutored  him  to  look  upon 
falsehood  as  odious  and  mean,  and  upon  every  form 
of  evasion  as  not  only  immoral,  but  unbecoming  to 


224  EGEKIA. 

manhood — the  boy  so  taught,  in  after  life  may  be 
trusted  safely.  I  care  not  in  what  situation  you 
place  him,  he  will  never  go  aside  from  the  standards 
of  mind  which  have  been  given,  however  far  he  may 
be  removed  from  the  eye  of  the  parent,  and  how 
ever  far  beyond  the  reach  of  parental  favor  or  re 
proof.  Solomon,  a  very  respectable  authority  in 
ancient  times,  was  never  more  correct  than  when  he 
said,  "train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and 
when  he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  therefrom."  Mark 
me, — he  does  not  say  teach,  but  train.  There  is  a 
world-wide  difference  in  the  meaning  of  these  two 
words.  The  world  now  teaches  all  and  trains  none 
at  all. 

MANHOOD. 

To  be  conscious  of  all  the  peril,  toil,  and  defeat, 
and  yet  resolutely  press  on  to  the  encounter,  in  the 
hope  of  the  ultimate  triumph,  that  is  the  most  con 
summate  manhood,  —  the  highest  proof  of  moral 
endowment, — faith  and  courage.  I  give  the  maxim 
a  portable  form  in  a  sonnet. 

I  know  that  I  rmist  struggle,  and  I  know 
That  sorrow  in  that  struggle  must  be  mine, 


E  G  E  R I  A.  225 

And  with  denial  I  must  chafe  and  pine ! — 
My  nature  and  the  world  decree  it  so! — 
But  shall  I  from  the  progress  backward  go  ? 
My  hand  upon  the  ploughshare,  shall  my  heart 
Shrink  from  the  toil  because  the  toil  be  great, 
And  there  are  those  who,  striving,  cry  "  Depart! 
Lest  you  provoke  our  ridicule  and  hate !" 
This  were  to  fight  with  fortune  against  fate ; — 
A  harder  conflict  than  to  struggle  on, 
Still  falling,  and  arising  but  to  fall, 
But  stiil  to  rise  and  struggle,  firm  through  all, 
Growing  stronger  with  each  foot  of  progress  won! 

SPRINGS  OF  THE  HEART. 

The  heart,  like  some  exhaustless  reservoir,  is  so 
happily  supplied  by  secret  springs,  that  its  fulness 
keeps  even  pace  with  the  draughts  which  are  made 
upon  it.  It  always  possesses  in  due  proportion  as 
it  imparts.  It  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful  quali 
ties  in  nature,  that  she  bestows  nothing  where  it  is 
not  needed;  and  so  jealous  does  she  show  herself, 
in  the  midst  of  all  her  bounty,  of  all  unbecoming 
waste,  that  the  faculty  left  unexercised,  is  soon  with 
drawn  from  the  improvident  possessor.  Not  to  lose, 
therefore,  we  must  be  prompt  to  use. 

POLITICIANS  AND  PEOPLE. 
Politicians  are  apt  to  think  that  the  best  argument 


226  EGERIA. 

for  the  people  is  not  that  which  is  true,  or  that  which 
should  be  taught,  but  that  only  which  they  are  most 
anxious  to  believe. 

OCCASION  AND  PRINCIPLE. 

He  shall  go  wrong  who  goes  not  with  the  occasion, 
and  steer  at  random  who  steers  not  by  the  polar 
star  of  truth  and  principle. 

PITY. 

Punishment  is  by  no  means  inconsistent  with  pity. 
They  know  not  what  they  do,  is  no  reason  why  they 
should  not  be  made  to  know. 

ORIENTAL  POETRY. 

Excluding  that  of  the  Bible,  though  we  need  not 
make  any  exception  in  regard  to  the  Songs  of  Solo 
mon,  the  poetry  of  the  East  is  marked  by  Fancy  in 
extreme  degree,  and  never  by  Imagination,  which 
equally  implies  depth  of  search  and  audacity  of 
wing.  Here  is  a  sample,  from  the  Arabic,  of  a  poet 
who  mingles  no  little  logic  with  his  love. 

Leila,  thou  fly'st  me  like  a  dove, 

When  I  pursue  thee  with  my  love ; 

I  give  thy  speed  of  wings  to  thee, 

Then  wherefore  shouldst  thou  fly  from  me? 


EGERIA.  227 

Whene'er  thou  meet'st  me,  in  thy  cheeks 
The  rose's  blush  thy  fear  bespeaks — 
Beneath  my  glance  that  rose-blush  grows, 
And  he  should  reap,  alone,  who  sows. 

Sweet  Leila,  sporting  in  the  shade, 
I  watch  thee  long,  beloved  maid — 
Ah !  set  mine  eyes  thy  prisoners  free, 
Or  make  thine  own  my  jailers  be. 

And  wherefore  kiss  yon  budding  flow'r  ? — 
To  kiss  thee  back  it  hath  no  power! 
Shouldst  thou  bestow  such  kiss  on  me, 
I  should  not  thus  ungrateful  be. 

Deep  in  the  fountain,  clad  in  grace, 
Thy  white  arms  plash  with  fond  embrace; 
The  fountain  clasps  thee  not  again — 
Thou  shouldst  not  clasp  me  thus  in  vain. 

SIGH  NO  MORE,  LADIES. 

A   BALLAD. 

The  first  four  lines  of  this  little  song,  forms  the 
burden  to  an  old  English  melody,  which  was  quite 
popular  in  its  season — and  may  be  again. 

i. 

"  Sigh  no  more,  ladies — sigh  no  more, 

Men  were  deceivers,  ever; 
One  foot  on  sea,  and  one  on  shore, 

To  one  thing  constant  never ;" — 


228  EGERIA. 

They  rove,  they  range,  from  Sal  to  Sue, 

And  offer  vows  in  plenty, 
But  nothing  bound  by  aught  they  do. 

There's  not  one  true  in  twenty. 

Sigh  no  more,  ladies. 

II. 

'Tis  but  a  common  game  they  play, 

And  love  itself 's  a  pastime; 
They  win  your  stakes,  and  speed  away, 

But  never  for  the  last  time  ; — 
Would  you  be  safe,  adopt,  like  us, 

The  roving  lover's  maxim; 
First  win,  then  sing  your  lover  thus, 

No  matter  how  it  racks  him — 

Sigh  no  more,  &c. 

in. 

To  sigh  and  whine  will  never  do, — 

He  mocks  while  you  are  grieving  — 
To  find  the  damsel's  heart  is  true, 

But  makes  his  own  deceiving. 
His  passion's  but  a  practised  part, 

And  you  in  turn  must  act  yours; 
Lest,  flying  off,  with  perfect  heart, 

He  boasts  that  he  has  sacked  yours. 

IGNORANCE  OF  GREATNESS. 

It  is  the  erroneous  belief  and  doctrine  of  many  of 
our  statesmen  and  philosophers,  that  the  world  is, 


EGERIA.  229 

at  all  times,  in  profound  ignorance  of  its  own  re 
sources.  "  The  world,"  says  Mr.  Taylor,  in  his 
Philip  Van  Artevilde — 

"  The  world  has  never  known  its  greatest  men.;' 

This  is  a  very  consoling  philosophy  for  that  innu 
merable  crowd  of  illustrious  obscures,  who  would  be 
thought  great,  without  acting  greatness — who  would 
receive  the  wages  without  doing  the  work.  Now, 
there  could  be  nothing  so  startling — perhaps  no 
thing  so  untrue,  in  the  line,  were  it  written — 

';  The  time  has  seldom  known  its  greatest  men." 

A  great  man  is  one  who,  in  some  sense  or  other, 
adds  to  the  world's  possessions  ;  be  it  in  government, 
in  poetry,  or  in  philosophy,  he  is  a  bringer  into  life 
— a  builder,  a  creator,  a  planter,  an  inventor — in 
some  sort,  a  doer  of  that  which  nobody  else  has  done 
before  him,  and  which  nobody,  then,  besides  himself, 
seemed  willing  or  prepared  to  do.  Now,  it  is  very 
certain  that  the  world  really  loses  none  of  its  posses 
sions.  A  truth  once  known,  is  known  for  ever.  It 
is  an  immortality,  as  well  as  a  property  ;  and  he 
who  makes  it  known,  is  known  with  that  which  he 
discovers  and  because  of  his  discovery,  lie  possibly 

20 


230  EG  EH  i  A. 

gives  it  his  name !  It  does  not  alter  the  case  very 
materially,  to  show  that  the  name  is  sometimes  mis 
taken,  misapplied,  confounded  with  another.  The 
supposed  discoverer  receives  the  prize  of  the  dis 
covery,  and  whether  we  call  him  Columbus  or 
Americus,  it  matters  little  in  affecting  the  universal 
acknowledgment  that  it  is  obviously  the  intention  of 
the  world  to  make  to  his  memory.  But  it  is  very 
seldom,  indeed,  that  the  mere  time  is  ignorant  of  the 
merits  of  its  great  men.  These  may  be  baffled,  de 
nied,  not  successful  in  what  would  seem  to  be  the 
aim  in  their  endeavor  ;  but  the  very  fact  that  their 
lives  are  struggles — that  there  is  opposition — ear 
nest,  angry  opposition, — perhaps  persecution,  and  a 
bloody  death — these  are  sufficient  proofs  that  the 
world  acknowledges  the  greatness — which  provokes 
its  fear,  its  jealousy,  its  various  passions  of  envy,  or 
hostility,  or  suspicious  apprehension.  No  truth  ever 
yet  failed  because  of  the  martyrdom  of  its  teacher  ; 
and  the  life  of  the  teacher,  and  his  glory,  lie  in  the 
ultimate  success  of  the  truth  which  he  taught,  and 
not  within  the  miserable  limit  of  his  seventy  years 
of  earthly  allotment.  It  is  one  quality  of  true 
greatness,  to  be  always  at  work ;  pushing  its  truth 
forward  ;  never  sleeping ;  never  doubting ;  always 


EGERIA.  231 

pressing  on  to  the  consummation  of  its  final  object ! 
A  man  may  die  before  his  work  is  utterly  done ! 
Some  truths  require  the  lives  of  successive  genera 
tions  of  great  men,  before  they  are  perfected,  so  as 
to  become  clear  and  useful  in  the  inferior  under 
standing  of  the  million.  Each  of  these  workers  has 
his  share  in  the  glory  ;  not,  perhaps,  when  the  struc 
ture  is  completed,  but  during  the  several  stages  of  its 
progress — though  that  glory  be,  itself,  nothing 
greater,  and  nothing  less,  than  the  opposition  and 
reproach,  the  persecution  and  misrepresentation, 
which  he  encounters  in  the  world-fight  for  ever 
going  on  between  the  subjects  of  routine-tyranny 
and  the  prophets  of  the  better  faith.  The  world 
knows  all  these  great  men,  preserves  their  labors, 
and  consecrates  their  fame.  The  time,  itself,  though 
unbelieving,  is  never  improvident ;  for  it  preserves 
the  history  of  its  own  unbelief ;  the  penalties  which 
it  inflicted  ;  and  the  constancy,  firm  faith,  and  un 
flagging  resolution  of  the  martyr  ;  and  from  these 
come  the  human  glory  in  other  generations.  There 
is  in  man  an  inherent  sentiment  of  justice.  This 
will  work  out  its  way.  I  conscientiously  believe 
that  man  never  yet  toiled  for  man,  that  he  did  not 
ultimately  receive  his  acknowledgments;  and  this 


232  EGERIA. 

working  for  our  race,  constitutes  the  only  sure  claim 
upon  which  we  may  reasonably  expect  the  gratitude 
either  of  our  fellows  or  of  the  future ! 

STYLE. 

You  hear  a  great  deal  said  about  the  detection  of 
a  writer  by  his  style ;  but  this  is  sheer  nonsense. 
An  author  of  any  skill  and  experience  can  make  his 
style  what  he  pleases,  and  impose  on  whom  he  will. 
No  doubt,  when  he  has  no  motive  for  concealment, 
and  when  the  plan  of  his  work  is  one  with  which  he 
has  made  his  public  familiar,  you  may  read  him  then 
as  easily  as  his  book.  But,  the  truth  is,  that  every 
species  of  composition  calls  for  its  own  language. 
There  is  a  style  proper  to  the  book  itself,  to  the  ob 
ject  which  the  writer  has  in  view,  and  to  the  tone 
which  he  determines  to  employ — and  artistical  ne 
cessity  requires  that  he  should  acknowledge  all  of 
these,  in  the  peculiar  mode  in  which  he  gives  them 
form.  His  style  must  vary  with  his  subject,  and 
with  the  particular  mood  in  which  his  conception 
has  been  obtained.  In  other  words,  every  book 
must  have  its  own  style,  peculiar  to  its  character, 
rather  than  to  that  of  the  writer,  and  the  author 
may  show  just  as  much,  or  just  as  little  of  himself, 
as  he  thinks  proper. 


EGERIA.  233 

EARNESTNESS. 

Habitual  earnestness  is  necessary  to  a  successful 
prosecution  of  the  business  of  life,  no  matter  of 
what  character.  But  to  be  exceedingly,  or  even 
moderately  earnest,  in  trifles,  is  apt  to  make  the 
person  unamiable.  Pursued  beyond  a  certain  point 
in  society,  and  earnestness  becomes  asperity.  We 
should  never  forget  that  an  argument  urged  to 
a  conclusion  where  we  are  to  gain  nothing  but  a 
triumph  over  the  pride  or  the  ignorance  of  another, 
is  a  victory  won  at  the  expense  of  a  virtue. 

PLEASURE. 

Pleasure  is  one  of  those  commodities  which  are 
sold  at  a  thousand  shops,  and  bought  by  a  thousand 
customers,  but  of  which  nobody  ever  fairly  finds 
possession.  Either  they  know  not  well  how  to  use, 
or  the  commodity  will  not  keep,  for  no  one  has  ever 
yet  appeared  to  be  satisfied  with  his  bargain.  It  is 
too  subtle  for  transition,  though  sufficiently  solid 
for  sale. 

FITNESS  OF  THINGS. 

I  suppose  that  many  persons  would  envy  the  bird 
20* 


234  EGERIA. 

his  song,  his  wing,  and  his  freedom,  were  it  not  that 
grubs  are  by  no  means  a  favorite  dish.  It  were  to 
be  wished  that  where  the  uses  of  the  man  were 
wanting,  we  could  prompt  him  to  those  of  the  bird, 
or  even  of  the  grub. 

INFIRMITY  OF  PURPOSE. 

There  are  some  people  in  the  world  who,  still 
thinking  what  they  shall  do,  do  nothing  because  of 
their  thinking.  They  act,  it  may  be,  on  the  return 
of  the  great  comets.  Ordinarily,  their  sole  employ 
ment  seems  to  consist  in  beating  against  every  star 
in  the  heavens. 

DEAD  WEIGHTS. 

The  wonder  is,  not  that  the  world  is  so  easily 
governed,  but  that  so  small  a  number  of  persons 
will  suffice  for  the  purpose.  There  are  dead  weights 
in  political  and  legislative  bodies  as  in  clocks,  and 
hundreds  answer  as  pulleys  who  would  never  do  for 
politicians. 

POPULATION. 

A  people  never  fairly  begins  to  prosper  till  neces 
sity  is  treading  on  its  heels.  The  growing  want  of 


EGERIA.  235 

> 

room  is  one  of  the  sources  of  civilization.  Popula 
tion  is  power,  but  it  must  be  a  population  that,  in 
growing,  is  made  daily  apprehensive  of  the  morrow. 

CONSIDERATION. 

The  only  true  source  of  politeness  is  considera 
tion — that  vigilant  moral  sense  which  never  loses 
sight  of  the  rights,  the  claims,  and  the  sensibilities 
of  others.  This  is  the  one  quality,  over  all  others, 
necessary  to  make  the  gentleman. 

GRATITUDE. 

A  proper  gratitude  assumes  that  you  will  give 
the  shell  to  him  who  has  furnished  you  with  the 
oyster. 

CONSOLATION  OF  MERIT. 

It  may  console  us,  and  it  was  probably  intended 
that  it  should,  that  our  merit,  if  not  duly  appreciated 
by  our  associates,  seldom  escapes  our  own  penetra 
tion. 

PARAGRAPHS. 

Great  men  are  monstrously  afraid  of  little  para 
graphs,  as  the  noblest  steed  may  be  goaded  into 
madness  by  the  insects  that  fasten  on  his  rear. 


236  EGERIA. 

EQUANIMITY. 

Keep  your  mind,  as  Seneca  counsels,  always 
above  the  moon,  and  you  will  never  suffer  from  the 
rising  or  falling  of  the  tides. 

PRAYERS  TO  FORTUNE. 

What  man  would  be  fortunate  or  happy  if  Jupiter 
listened  to  all  his  prayers. 

PATRIOTISM. 

There  are  in  the  world  at  least  two  sorts  of  pa 
triotism,  and  though  they  occupy  opposite  extremes 
in  morals,  it  is  yet  very  hard  for  ordinary  men  to 
distinguish  between  them.  The  one  is  true,  the 
other  false.  The  one  may  be  seen,  the  other  is  al 
ways  to  be  heard.  The  one  carries  his  public  love 
in  his  heart  and  shows  it  in  his  actions ;  the  other 
upon  his  tongue  and  discovers  it  in  his  speech.  The 
one  is  solid,  and  strives  without  ceasing ;  the  other 
is  shadowy,  and  is  always  too  busy  to  work.  The 
one  is  unpromising,  the  other  full  of  promise.  The 
one  thinks,  the  other  talks.  The  one  has  no  family 
but  his  country;  the  other  no  country  but  his  fa 
mily.  The  one  sits  late  in  council ;  the  other  gets  late 


EGERIA.  237 

to  council.  The  one  appropriates  the  public  money 
for  the  public  good,  the  other  for  his  own.  The  one 
waits  the  necessity  to  spend  it ;  the  other  makes  the 
necessity.  The  one  leaves  the  public  service  a  beggar ; 
the  other  beggars  it.  But  the  false  patriot  is  a  dex 
terous  imitator  of  the  true.  He  speaks  justly  the 
principles  which  the  other  practises.  Everybody 
will  allow  that  he  knows  what  is  right — fchat  he  is 
a  famous  orator — and  that,  if  not  a  patriot,  it  is 
only  because  his  own  ideal  is  too  admirable  for  any 
common  mortal  to  approach. 

CONSERVATISM  AND  PROGRESS. 

In  politics,  that  sort  of  conservatism  which  op 
poses  progress,  is  only  a  patriotic  sort  of  suicide. 
Fancy  the  venerable  gray-beard,  with  tottering  limbs 
and  crutch  extended,  feebly  striving  to  arrest  the 
wheels  of  the  locomotive  under  full  head  of  steam. 
It  is  a  miserable  selfishness,  as  well  as  blindness, 
that  would  arrest  the  movement  which,  having 
served  our  generation,  we  decree  should  enure  to  the 
benefit  of  none  succeeding.  There  is  only  one  sort 
of  political  conservatism  that  has  any  value.  It  is 
one  that  will  recognise  the  movement,  and  leaping 
into  the  seat  of  the  driver,  will  take  part  in  guiding 


238  EGERIA. 

it  with  skill  and  courage.     To  attempt  to  arrest  it 
wholly,  is  only  to  perish  under  the  wheels. 

PROOF  OF  SENATORIAL  WISDOM. 

Here  is  a  premise  worked  out  to  its  just  conclu 
sion  : 

A  maxim  owned  without  demur — 

Who  speaks  but  little,  wise  we  call : 
How  very  wise  our  Senator, — 
He's  never  heard  to  speak  at  all. 

This  forbearance  of  "  our  Senator"  may  be,  in  the 
present  condition  of  the  country,  a  sufficient  proof 
of  wisdom,  to  justify  us  in  construing  the  epigram 
into  literal  language,  and  making  it  a  tribute  rather 
than  a  satire.  There  are  few  senators,  either  in  our 
State  or  National  Legislatures,  to  whom  this  verse 
would  apply ;  and  when  we  consider  what  is  said  by 
those  who  do  speak,  it  is  by  no  means  a  strained 
conjecture  that  the  silent  member  is  the  wisest.  The 
great  proofs  of  wisdom  in  an  orator  are  in  knowing 
the  "when,"  and  "where,"  and  "how much."  These 
proofs  are  seldom  shown  by  our  senators.  The 
senator,  therefore,  who  knows  the  "  how  little,"  is 
clearly  not  deficient  in  wisdom.  We  move  to  amend. 


EGERIA.  230 

POETRY. 

Poetry  so  far  adopts  the  vague  as  to  studiously 
forbear  the  literal.  The  more  literal  the  poet,  the 
more  common-place,  and  of  consequence  the  less 
poetical.  Original  ideas  necessarily  imply  an  ori 
ginal  phraseology.  But  Poetry  loses  nothing  of  her 
force  of  speech  by  her  indirectness.  It  is  the  won 
drous  property  of  the  imagination  to  seize  upon  the 
most  imposing  forms  of  the  subject  by  the  least 
notorious  processes.  She  first  rises,  like  the  eagle, 
or  the  vulture,  above  the  prey  upon  whom  she  de 
signs  to  descend. 

WILL. 

We  believe  very  much  as  AVC  will,  in  spite  of  the 
philosophers.  This  is  certainly  the  case  where  the 
subject  is  the  merits  of  our  neighbor.  Perhaps  the 
very  best  test  of  the  feeling  which  we  have  for  him, 
is  to  note  in  what  degree  the  mention  of  his  good 
fortune  makes  us  angry  and  dissatisfied,  or  pleased. 

DEPTH  OF  A  PHILOSOPHER. 

How  deep  was  that  quaint  philosopher,  Gregory 
Nazianzen,  who  drowned  himself  in  the  Euripus  to 
ascertain  the  cause  of  its  frequent  rising  through 


240  EGEEIA. 

the  day  ?     Over  his  head — beyond  his  depth — cer 
tainly. 

AIM. 

The  ambition  which  aims  too  moderately,  is  quite 
as  liable  to  defeat  as  that  which  aims  too  low.  The 
eagle  finds  the  sheep  a  better  mark  than  he  would 
the  moth. 

COMFORT. 

It  is  only  in  the  decline  of  a  nation's  energies  that 
comfort  becomes  its  prevailing  passion.  Strength 
of  any  kind  is  sure  to  disdain  comfort. 

IDLENESS. 

Habitual  and  utter  idleness  can  only  result  in 
idiocy ;  but  we  should  err  in  always  assuming  him  to 
be  idle  whom  we  never  see  at  work. 

MUSIC. 

It  is  quite  curious  to  know  that  few  poets  know 
anything  of  music  or  appreciate  it  very  highly.  It  is 
seldom  that  they  understand  it,  and  quite  as  seldom 
that  they  compose  or  perform  it.  Milton  and  Moore 
are  almost  the  only  exceptions  in  the  whole  circle  of 
the  British  Parnassus.  The  vulgar  idea  is  that 


EGERIA.  241 

poetry  and  music  arc  much  of  the  same  nature,  and 
that  the  individual  possessing  one  must  necessarily 
possess  the  other ;  but  this  is  rarely  the  case. 
Poets  know  little  or  nothing  of  music,  and  musicians 
are  most  generally  very  ignorant  of,  and  indifferent 
to,  poetry.  The  truth  is,  they  assimilate  in  but  one 
respect — that  of  harmony ;  and  while  poetry  appeals 
chiefly  to  the  intellectual,  spiritual,  and  moral  na 
ture,  the  persuasions  of  music  are  addressed  almost 
wholly  to  the  sensuous.  Music  as  it  tempers  the 
passions  and  produces  a  calm  of  the  mood  and  the 
will,  soothes  and  prepares  the  way  for  the  moral 
agencies.  In  this  respect  it  assimilates  with  the 
mathematical.  Mathematics  and  music  are,  in 
deed,  very  frequently  found  in  alliance. 

SUKEY  ABROAD  AND  AT  HOME. 

Sukey  is  certainly  pretty, 

With  just  such  a  figure  and  air, 
As  prompt,  in  the  streets  of  the  city, 

The  gallant  to  turn  round  and  stare ; 
She  has  eyes  which  in  mischief  can  lighten, 

And  lips,  that,  when  parting,  would  seem, 
As  if  chiefly  intended  to  brighten, 

And  warm  up  an  anchorite's  dream. 
21 


242  EGERIA. 

But  Sukey,  when  walking  the  city/ 

And  Sukey  at  home,  let  me  say, 
Seldom  shows  herself  equally  pretty — 

Seldom  hooks  while  beguiling  the  prey. 
When  she  gazes,  you  feel  her  most  charming, 

And  are  ready  to  fall  at  her  feet ; 
But  she  speaks,  and  the  shock  is  alarming, 

And  you  only  feel  safe  in  the  street. 

SUSCEPTIBILITIES  OF  THOUGHTS  AND  THINGS. 

To  discover  what  are  the  susceptibilities  of  things, 
is  the  business  of  science.  It  is  in  susceptibilities 
of  thoughts,  as  well  as  things,  that  the  poet  and  the 
philosopher  find  their  proper  vocation. 

JUSTICE  TO  CHILDREN. 

The  child,  conscious  of  no  ill  intention,  and  erring 
in  judgment  only,  at  once  withdraws  his  sympathies 
from,  and  his  confidence  in,  the  parent,  as  well  as 
the  tutor,  who,  in  their  treatment  of  his  fault,  will 
not  discriminate  justly,  and  recognise  this  moral 
distinction  in  his  conduct.  We  are  not  only  re 
quired  to  teach  justice  to  children,  but  to  teach  it  in 
the  most  impressive  manner,  by  always  dealing  with 
them  justly. 


EGERIA.  243 

KIND  WORDS  IN  SEASON. 

So  that  they  be  in  season,  it  matters  not  how 
simple  are  the  flowers  that  one  gathers  from  the 
wayside.  A  kind  word,  when  the  heart  needs  it,  is 
always  grateful,  though  the  grammar  be  very  bad 
of  him  who  speaks  it. 

EGOTISM. 

It  is  in  the  conceit  and  selfishness  of  philosophy 
that  the  condition  of  poverty  is  ever  preferred. 
Timon  was  simply  a  monster  of  egotism,  and,  in  his 
way,  quite  as  worthless  and  immoral  as  his  syco 
phants.  Philanthropy  loses  half  the  value  of  its 
virtue  denied  the  means  of  fully  exercising  it. 

WEAPON. 

As  long  as  the  wit  will  suffice,  you  should  hide 
the  weapon.  The  blow  is  the  brute  argument,  pro 
per  only  when  the  brains  fail.  It  is  the  ass  only 
whose  first  salutation  is  made  by  his  heels. 

GOLD  AND  SILVER. 

Gold  and  silver  are  metals  quite  too  heavy  for  us 
to  carry  to  heaven  ;  but,  in  good  hands,  they  can  be 
made  to  pave  the  way  to  it. 


244  EGERIA. 

NEIGHBORLY  HELP. 

He  is  the  best  help  to  his  neighbor  who  shows 
him  the  way  to  help  himself. 

HOSTILITY  OF  ENGLAND. 

The  delight  with  which  the  British  press  hails 
everything  which  is  hostile  to,  or  abusive  of  this 
country,  deserves  its  comment.  It  is  to  be  remarked 
that  this  hostility  is  shown  in  due  degree  with  the 
progress  which  we  make  to  power.  It  justifies  our 
apostrophe. 

It  argues  evil  for  thy  future  deeds, 
And  present  glory,  England,  to  behold 
The  joy  it  gives  thee  to  believe  thy  sons 
Degenerate,  and  the  American  grown  base, 
Sprung  from  thy  stocks,  and  sharing  with  thyself 
The  patrimonial  honors.     When  we  see 
The  broad  grin  on  thy  visage,  at  the  tale 
Of  thy  own  hirelings,  happy  to  dilate, 
In  the  salacious  narrative,  that  speaks 
As  often  for  their  falsehood  as  our  shame. 
Oh!  these  but  mock  thy  wretched  appetite, 
Cannot  sustain,  will  cumber,  sink  thee  down 
In  double  weight  of  infamy,  though  now 
They  triumph  in  thy  sad  encouragement ; 
The  exulting  sneer,  and  the  applauding  smile 
That  compensates  the  pensioned  profligate, 
For  his  poor  jest  and  miserable  lie. 


EGERIA.  245 

THE  ILIAD. 

AN    EPIGRAM    FROM    THE    GERMAN    OF    SCHILLER. 

Tearing  the  crown  from  old  Homer,  and  counting 

the  long  list  of  sires, 
From  his  Poem  eternal  and  true, 
Still,  in  its  traits  they  discover  the  features  of  one 

mother  only, 
Oh !  Nature,  eternal  in  thee. 

BCEOTIA. 

Boeotia's  luxuries  wrought  Boeotia's  shame,* 
And  dulled  the  genius  that  was  horn  to  Fame. 

THE  FOOL'S  FUTURE. 

EPIGRAM    FROM    THE    ITALIAN    OF   MACCHIAVELLI. 

Pierre  Soderini  died  ; — that  very  night, 

At  Hell's  wide  mouth,  he  showed  his  silly  face ; 

"Hence,"  Pluto  cried,  disgusted  at  the  sight, 
"  To  the  fool's  limbo — that's  thy  proper  place." 

BEAUTY  AND  JOY. 

AN    EPIGRAM    FROM    THE    GERMAN    OF    SCHILLER. 

If  thou  hast  never  seen  Beauty,  in  moments  of 

anguish  and  sorrow, 

Then  hast  thou  never  the  Beautiful  seen ! 
21* 


246  EGERIA. 

If  thou  hast  never  seen  Joy  as  it  shines  in  the  face 

of  the  Beautiful, 

Then  is  the  Joyous  a  presence  most  strange  to 
thine  eyes ! 

THE  GOOD  WIFE. 

VERSIFIED   FROM    PROVERBS. 

The  Lord  hath  many  daughters, 

That  virtuously  achieve, 
But  thou  excellest  all,  for  thou 

Dost  labor  and  believe. 

Thou  know'st  how  vain  is  beauty, 

How  false  the  charms  of  sense, 
And  serving  God  with  truth,  thou  hast 

His  praise  and  recompense. 

Thy  husband's  praises  shall  be  thine ; 

The  children  of  thy  breast, 
Thus  taught,  shall  in  their  love  arise, 

And  fondly  call  thee  blessed. 

DOLCE  FAR  NIENTE. 

We  are  advocates,  at  such  a  season  as  Jlie  present, 
for  the  Italian  luxury,  described  in  the  language  of 


EGERIA.  247 

their  people,  as  the  "sweet  of  doing  nothing."  Our 
lives  are  really  inconsistent  with  our  climate.  That 
counsels  us,  just  now,  to  a  life  like  the  lilies.  "  They 
toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin."  Are  we  to  toil  al 
ways  ?  Is  there  to  he  no  season  of  repose,  when  we 
may  drink  in  the  fragrance  of  orange  groves,  and 
yield  ourselves  to  the  embraces  of  the  breeze,  and 
take  no  concern  about  anything  besides  ?  We  are 
of  opinion  that  a  climate  is  rendered  oppressive  at 
certain  periods,  only  that  we  should  be  compelled  to 
forbear  exertion,  and  simply  submit  ourselves  to  life, 
snatching  up  its  passing  blessings  as  fast  as  we  can. 
We  are  aware  that  this  is  not  the  usual  morality 
which  is  taught  us  by  the  schools,  the  books,  the 
fathers,  and  our  masters  generally.  But  we  would 
simply  guard  against  extremes  in  our  more  indulgent 
teachings.  We  may  work  and  toil  too  much,  quite 
as  certainly  as  we  may  trifle  and  play  too  much ; 
until  the  brain  and  body  both  grow  weary  with  ex 
haustion,  and  the  sense  of  weariness  becomes  a  sick 
ness,  and  the  work  of  recuperation  becomes  impos 
sible.  There  never,  perhaps,  was  a  people  in  the 
world,  so  steadfast  to  its  daily  toils  as  the  American. 
Repose  from  toil  is  reluctantly  accorded  to  the 
fainting  frame,  and  the  listless,  languid  spirit.  We 


248  EGERIA. 

give  ourselves  no  respite,  and  day  in  and  day  out, 
our  hammer  sounds  upon  the  rock  and  anvil,  and 
our  fingers  work  with  the  knife,  or  adze,  or  pen,  or 
pencil,  until  all  aches  in  head  and  heart,  and  a 
gloomy  leaden  sky  seems  to  weigh  us  down,  pressing 
us  prematurely  into  the  earth.  We  toil  thus  that 
we  may  live,  as  if  anybody,  with  his  wits  about 
him,  should  call  this  life  !  We  should  be  more  in 
dulgent  to  ourselves  and  one  another ;  take  and  give 
more  leisure ; — that  we  may,  in  an  idleness  like  that 
of  the  lily,  array  ourselves  somewhat  in  its  beauty 
also.  English  and  American  might  both  borrow 
valuable  counsels  of  this  sort,  from  the  precept  and 
practice  of  the  livelier  races  on  the  Continent  of 
Europe.  There  is  surely  a  time  for  the  "  Dolce  far 
niente,"  and,  if  so,  what  season  so  appropriate  as 
the  present,  when  the  breeze  comes  to  us  grudging 
ly,  and  the  sun  flames  over  us  like  the  angel  carry 
ing  the  sword  at  the  gates  of  Eden ;  and  the  shade 
woos  us  to  repose,  and  the  solitude  alone  is  sweet 
ened  with  the  song  of  peace. 

HORACE  ON  BEVERAGES. 

For  the  original,  of  which  this  is  a  very  free 
paraphrase,  see  Ode  xviii.,  ad  Varum.    The  transla- 


EGERIA.  249 

tion  was  originally  addressed  to  Mr.  Junius  Smith 
(recently  deceased),  who  had  introduced  the  tea 
culture  into  South  Carolina.  The  Reedy  River  runs 
through  the  beautiful  village  of  Greenville,  a  lovely 
mountain  stream,  worthy  of  a  poet.  Paris  is  the 
name  of  a  mountain  near  it. 

TO   JUNIUS    SMITH,   TEA   PLANTER,   GREENTILLE,    S.  C. 

Oh!  Junius,  though  you  plant  the  tea, 
The  vine  is  still  the  plant  for  me ; 
And,  by  the  Reedy's  banks  and  near 
The  Mount  of  Paris  may  you  rear 
The  Scuppernong, — more  gladly  quaffed, 
By  thousands,  than  your  Chinese  draught. 

For  Jove  hath  wisely  well  decreed, 
That  he  who  loves  not  rosy  wine, 

Shall  still  lack  comfort  in  his  need, 
And  with  a  constant  cross  repine. 
'Tis  still  the  grape's  rich  juice  that  brings 
Oblivion  of  life's  vexing  things. 
Who,  with  his  wine  beside  him,  thinks 
Of  want  and  war?     He  bravely  drinks, 
Toasts  Bacchus,  and  to  Venus  lifts 
His  cup,  with  thanks  for  other  gifts. 
Thus,  your  philosopher,  who  still 
Restrains  himself,  nor  drinks  his  fill, 
Content  as  man,  and  not  as  beast, 
To  joy,  not  wallow,  in  his  feast, — 
To  Centaur  and  Lapithse  leaves 

Base  drunkenness  and  brutal  strife, 


250  EGERIA. 


Nor  in  the  extreme  indulgence  grieves, 

Which  shames  the  soul  and  shorts  the  life! 
Bacchus,  himself,  still  chides  th'  excess, 

That  knows  not  when,  in  time,  to  pause, 
Restrain  the  lusts  that  still  would  press, 

And  Passion  keep  'neath  proper  laws. 
But  not  for  me,  O!  Bacchus!  now, 
To  move  thee  to  an  angry  brow, 
Or  chafe  thee  into  wrath  with  those, 

Who  wrong  thy  rights,  who  know  not  thee, 

Wallow  in  wine,  or  drink  but  tea, 
Both  fools,  and  equally  thy  foes ! 
Yet  do  thou  lesson  Junius  Smith, 

Make  him  discard  his  Chinese  horn; 
Show  him  thyself,  no  ancient  myth, 

As  brave  a  prince  as  e'er  was  born  ; 
And,  for  these  Temperance  folks,  misnamed, 
Make  them  of  arrogance  ashamed, 

And  gross  injustice  done  thy  rites : — 
Show  them,  how  much  more  wisely,  they 
Might  quaff  thy  bowl,  and  love  thy  sway, 

Yet.  sober  go  to  bed  o'  nights ! — 
That  Temperance  teaches  still  the  use, 
Forbears  the  excess,  and  all  abuse, 

Yet  nought  denies  that  cheers  the  blood ; 
Takes  all  the  gifts  that  heaven  provides, 
Tries  all  things,  and  with  sense  decides, 

To  stick  to  what  it  still  finds  good — 
Whether  Gunpowder  or  Souchong, 
Soda,  or  juice  of  Scuppernong ! 


E  G  E  R  I  A.  251 


GOVERNMENT  TINKERS. 

The  world  is  full  of  tinkers  in  government,  as  if 
the  manufacture  of  laws  and  institutions  were  a  less 
difficult  matter,  requiring  less  genius  and  thought, 
than  the  invention  of  machinery.  Philosophers — 
so  called — in  their  closets, — and  politicians  along 
the  highways,  are  continually  concocting ;  and  yet 
there  is  no  success — no  stability !  But  here  lies  the 
grand  point  of  difficulty.  The  statesman  who  ex 
pects  stability  in  his  forms  of  government,  while 
the  people  themselves  are  daily  advancing  to  new 
conquests  in  mind,  morals,  and  machinery,  might  as 
well  be  an  antediluvian.  He  certainly  is  no  states 
man  for  his  day.  Hence  the  absurdity,  which  we 
daily  witness,  of  self-complacent  politicians,  who  are 
continually  insisting  upon  their  superior  pretensions 
to  govern  the  present,  because  of  their  superior 
familiarity  with  the  past.  The  true  governor  for 
the  present  is  one  who  has  gone  beyond  it  in  its 
own  tendencies.  The  essential  properties  of  a 
government  are  those  which  accord  with  the  habits, 
the  necessities,  and  the  conditions  of  the  people — 
which  refer  not  to  the  stock  from  which  they  sprung, 
nor  to  the  labors  which  they  have  already  achieved, 


252  EGERIA. 

but  to  those,  which,  under  the  stimulating  presence 
of  their  peculiar  genius,  they  are  still  capable  of 
achieving.  It  is  because  of  the  stationary  charac 
ter  of  their  governments  that  nations  decline  and 
finally  perish.  It  is  a  law  of  nature  that  we  should 
retrograde  the  moment  we  cease  to  go  forward.  We 
should  always  beware  of  that  fatal  delusion  which 
makes  us  fancy  we  are  perfect.  There  is  no  pro 
gress,  no  improvement  after  that !  There  is,  or 
should  be,  a  daily  revolution  going  on  in  all  human 
affairs,  or  the  wheels  of  a  nation  become  choked, 
and  the  body  politic  stagnates ;  at  the  same  time, 
caution  must  be  taken  that,  in  avoiding  one,  we  do 
not  fall  into  the  other  extreme.  There  is  such  a 
thing  as  firing  one's  vehicle  by  the  too  rapid  motion 
of  its  wheels. 

IMPUTATION  OF  MOTIVES. 

He  who  in  any  affair  assumes  an  unworthy  motive 
for  the  action  of  his  neighbor,  wrould  probably,  un 
der  like  conditions,  have  felt  the  same  motive  as 
the  only  impelling  cause  for  his  own  performance. 
It  is  only  when  called  upon  to  accord  credit  to  our 
neighbors  that  we  are  apt  to  deny  them  the  benefit 
of  our  own  standards. 


EGERIA.  253 

• 

BLANK  VERSE. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  very  few  of  the 
poets  most  distinguished  by  their  smoothness,  have 
ever  written  in  blank  verse.  Pope,  Goldsmith, 
Moore,  are  striking  examples.  Campbell  is  another, 
with  a  slight  exception.  He  lias  written  tivo  small 
poems  without  rhyme, — the  "Lines  on  the  View 
from  St.  Leonard's,"  and  the  apostrophe  to  "The 
Dead  Eagle  at  Oran," — but  these  are  very  inferior, 
and  prove  his  difficult  execution  in  the  unwonted 
department.  Blank  verse,  more  than  any  other 
species  of  poetry,  as  it  discards  wholly  the  adventi 
tious  aid  of  the  rhyme,  requires  the  nicest  perfection 
of  ear.  Every  line  must  be  perfect  in  itself,  or  a 
painful  discord  runs  through  the  whole  sentence,  and 
frequently  affects  the  virtue  of  an  entire  paragraph. 
It  is  accordingly  easier  to  write  in  any  measure  than 
in  blank  verse.  Rhyme,  itself,  is  rather  a  help  than 
an  obstacle,  since  the  regularly  recurring  termina 
tion  operates  as  a  sort  of  rudder,  which  guides  the 
ear  to  the  euphonious  conclusion.  The  master  of 
blank  verse  can  manage  any  sort  of  verse. 

PRAYER, 

We  say  many  things  to  ourselves  that  we  do  not 
22 


254  EG  EH  i  A. 

ourselves  believe.  Who,  for  example,  praying  daily 
that  his  life  may  be  still  farther  spared,  ever  seri 
ously  apprehends  that  he  may  die  before  the  dawn? 
The  very  frequency  with  which  a  regular  form  of 
prayer  is  repeated,  tends  measurably  to  diminish 
the  just  impression  which  it  should  make  upon  our 
minds.  We  pray,  unfortunately,  rather  from  habit 
than  from  will  or  thought,  while  the  very  idea  of 
prayer  presupposes  a  present  and  earnest  interest 
in  the  act  which  we  perform.  We  obey  a  law  and 
custom  rather  than  declare  a  wish  or  a  fear.  No 
doubt  this  is  evil,  yet  it  is  not  altogether  evil. 
Better  we  should  pray  habitually  than  curse  habi 
tually.  There  is  a  farther  advantage  in  the  prac 
tice.  The  habitual  utterance  of  a  sentiment,  in 
our  own  ears  only,  makes  it  a  law  unto  ourselves. 
What  the  memory  adopts,  is  apt  to  become  a  prin 
ciple.  This  we  habitually  recognise  whenever  the 
exigency  comes  home  to  us.  Sometimes,  even,  it 
may  occur  to  us  while  we  pray,  that  we  have  invited 
God  himself  to  an  audience. 

HOME.   • 

The  native  place  is  not  where  the  man  is  born, 
but  where  he  takes  root  and  flourishes.     Thousands 


EGERIA.  255 

in  every  land  are  compelled  by  the  foreign  influences 
of  home  to  go  abroad  seeking  a  native  place  among 
strangers. 

SYMPATHY. 

The  sympathy  which  professes  to  love  the  master, 
will  never  forget  to  feed  his  dog. 

PRESUMPTION. 

We  may  forgive  ignorance,  but  not  presumption. 
He  who  has  nothing  to  say,  should  say  nothing. 

HELP  HURTFUL. 

Many  sink  because  of  the  number  who  strive  to 
save  them. 

DELIBERATION. 

Deliberation  is  a  virtue,  but  not  after  the  battle 
is  begun. 

CHOICE  BETWEEN  TWO  LIVES, 

There  are  two  lives,  and  one  alone  is  ours, 

And  chosen,  we  must  choose  : — the  one  is  fair, 

A  world  of  summer  skies,  and  smiles,  and  flowers, 
The  other,  dark  with  tempests  and  with  care : — 

Our  will,  in  choice  of  these,  declares  our  powers. 


256  EGERIA. 

Is  it  tlrp pleasure,  o'er  the  summer  sea 

To  glide  with  noiseless  power  and  easy  sail, 
Reluctant  at  the  nobler  sov'reignty 

Of  wind  and  wave,  and  the  triumphant  gale  ? 
Then  we  part  company, — for  I  should  quail 
At  unperformance, — and  my  course  must  be, 
Where  the  strife  thickens, — where  the  meaner  pale, 
And  back  recoil,  and  nought  but  danger  see, 
Where  Glory  waves  her  flag,  and  Victory  waits  for 
me. 

FITNESS  OF  LAWS. 

The  laws  and  institutions  of  a  people,  while  they 
contemplate  the  probable  destinies  of  that  people, 
and  the  performances  of  which  they  are  capable, 
must,  at  the  same  time,  suit  and  address  themselves 
to  their  existing  condition.  No  government  can  be 
durable,  the  people  of  which  are  not  prosperous.  We 
hold  this  to  be  inevitable.  It  does  not  absolutely 
need,  in  order  that  this  result  should  be  reached, 
that  the  government,  per  se,  should  be  in  any  re 
spect  defective.  It  may  be,  in  all  respects,  a  very 
perfect  and  symmetrical  machine.  Its  grand  defect 
lies  in  its  want  of  fitness.  It  is  enough  that  it  does 
not  suit  the  people.  A  benevolent  government  may 


EGERIA.  4J57 

be  a  curse,  while  a  tyranny  in  turn  may  be  a  bless 
ing.  These  terms  are  simply  conditional.  In  a 
certain  condition  of  the  Hebrews,  God  gave  them 
rulers  who  scourged  their  vices  by  the  exercise  of 
others  more  atrocious.  The  sins  of  many  were 
chastised  by  the  superior  despotism  of  the  one.  At 
another  period,  when  they  were  better  prepared  for 
the  advent  of  a  higher  truth,  and  a  more  lovely 
civilization,  he  vouchsafed  them  Christ. — I  suspect 
that  Cornelius  Sylla  knew,  much  better  than  the 
historians,  what  sort  of  laws  suited  the  Roman  peo 
ple  in  the  turbulent  days  of  the  Marian  faction.  In 
those  days,  Tarquin  would  be  a  more  suitable  ruler 
than  Numa  Pompilius.  Such  a  man  as  Caius  Marius 
would  have  been  spurned  from  the  Comitia  in  the 
primitive  times  of  the  Republic — when  the  public 
virtues  were  yet  in  full  vigor  of  their  youth,  and  the 
popular  mind  had  not  been  corrupted  by  the  intro 
duction  of  foreign  luxuries  and  the  capricious  des 
potism  of  standing  armies.  Yet,  Marius  and  Sylla, 
monsters  of  cruelty  though  they  were,  had,  respec 
tively,  their  beneficial  uses.  Tyranny,  in  fact, 
wherever  it  successfully  establishes  itself,  is  the  ne 
cessary  growth  of  a  rank  moral  condition  of  the 
people ;  and,  even  where  it  does  not  establish  itself, 
22* 


258  EGERIA. 

but  merely  starts  up  at  periods  to  provoke  uproar 
and  to  be  cut  down  without  struggle,  it  is  yet  bene 
ficently  provided,  that  it  may  keep  the  people  con 
stantly  watchful  of  their  virtues  and  constantly 
solicitous  in  their  protection.  The  rank  weeds  that 
poison  the  fields  of  the  farmer,  having  no  obvious 
uses,  may  be,  in  like  manner,  put  there,  in  order 
that  he  may  be  compelled  to  industry,  and  kept  from 
flagging  over  his  daily  tasks.  The  cases  are  strict 
moral  parallels,  and  of  most  valuable  counsel.  The 
histories  of  nations  present  us  with  the  same  cor 
responding  truths ;  and  we  must  conclude,  therefore, 
among  other  things,  that  we  make  our  own  tyrannies 
— we  are,  substantially,  our  own  tyrants. 

"Thus  are  we  slaves  and  victims.     Thus  we  make 
The  tyrant  who  overcomes  us.     He  is  but 
The  creature  of  our  want — growing  at  need — 
The  scourge  that  whips  us  for  decaying  virtue, 
And  chastens  to  reform  us." 

It  will  be  difficult  to  find,  in  the  history  of  any 
nation,  where  the  people  are  moved  by  the  virtues 
of  thrift  and  industry,  the  case  of  a  successful  ty 
ranny,  even  for  the  briefest  period.  If  this  be  the 
fact,  what  follows  from  it  ?  Many  things,  indeed, 
each  valuable  in  its  place  to  know — but  one  thing 


EGERIA.  259 

in  particular — which  ig,  that  the  overthrow  of  the 
individual  tyrant,  does,  by  no  means,  imply  the  over 
throw  of  the  tyranny.  There  is  a  succession,  as 
regular  as  it  is  certain,  so  long  as  the  people  them 
selves  remain  the  same.  The  tyrant  is  but  the 
representative  form  of  tyranny — an  embodiment  to 
the  eye  of  that  rank  despotism  which  was  foul  and 
festering  in  each  man's  heart.  Until  that  be 
purged  out,  the  tyranny  runs  on  and  must  prevail. 
We  hear  a  great  deal  of  the  patriotism  of  Brutus  in 
the  murder  of  Caesar.  Yet,  of  what  avail  to  Roman 
freedom  was  the  death-blow  which  Brutus  struck  in 
the  Capitol  ? — a  death-blow,  not  to  the  oppression, 
but  to  its  simple  and  natural  agent !  The  answer 
to  this  question  is  a  wholesome  commentary.  It  is 
furnished  by  the  long  and  ghastly  line  of  the  Caesars 
— none  half  so  noble  as  the  original  whom  they  had 
slain — which  followed,  with  the  certainty  of  upward- 
flying  sparks — an  armed  and  bloody  host,  more 
awful  than  that  which  gloomed  and  glared  upon  the 
scared  eyeballs  of  Macbeth !  That  very  blow  of 
Brutus  helped  to  perpetuate  the  tyranny.  The  work 
had  to  be  done  anew,  and  by  meaner  workmen — 
mere  butchers — bad  men — men  of  straw — stocks 
and  stones  only — but  with  just  enough  of  will  and 


260  EGERIA. 

passion  of  their  own  as  to  keep  them  busy.  The 
death  of  Julius  Csesar  facilitated  the  progress  of  the 
tyranny,  by  putting  off  the  day  when,  by  the  recu 
perative  morals  of  the  people,  not  yet  exhausted, 
they  might  have  availed  themselves  of  the  crisis 
brought  about  by  their  own  indifference  or  sensuality. 
It  certainly  deprived  the  tyranny  which  scourged 
of  all  its  grace,  its  nobleness,  and  the  redeeming 
something  of  an  educated  humanity. 

MATERNAL  INFLUENCES. 

It  was  Madame  Campan,  who,  in  reply  to  an  in 
quiry  of  Napoleon,  proposed  the  establishment  of  an 
institute  for  the  education  of  mothers.  The  mother 
is,  in  most  cases,  and  for  obvious  reasons,  the  only 
teacher  of  the  morals  of  the  young.  The  vital  mis 
fortune  is,  that  she  herself  has  never  been  taught, 
or  has  been  taught  erroneously.  She  is  thus  em 
ployed  to  perpetuate  error  to  the  future  generations, 
and  to  sow  and  renew  the  future  growth  of  evil,  as 
Eve  did  at  first.  Many  a  fond  parent  has  ignorant- 
ly  brought  her  son  to  the  gallows.  The  boy  who 
bit  off  his  mother's  ear  beneath  the  fatal  tree,  con 
veyed  a  terrible  lesson  to  society,  which,  unhappily 
for  the  young,  it  will  not  learn. 


EGEKIA.  2G1 

LOVE  OF  SELF. 

There  is  always  one  grand  passion  of  the  heart, 
in  which  every  man  is  without  a  rival. 

DIFFIDENCE  OF  TRUE  MERIT. 

People  who  possess  the  most,  speak  least  of  their 
virtues.  It  is  he  who  distrusts  himself  that  shows 
most  anxiety  to  persuade  others  of  his  possessions. 

EXPERIENCE. 

Experience  is  the  stile  and  stone  in  the  highways, 
over  which  we  bruise  our  shins,  and  endanger  our 
necks.  It  is  not  until  we  have  pained  and  perilled 
our  limbs  in  this  encounter  with  her  obstructions, 
that  we  are  prepared  to  traverse  in  safety  the  com 
mon  roadstead. 

SECRET  OF  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY. 

Lord  Bacon  puts  the  secret  of  national  prosperity 
into  a  brief  compass.  He  says  :  "  There  are  three 
things  which  one  nation  selleth  to  another :  the  com 
modity  as  it  is  yielded  by  nature,  the  manufacture, 
and  the  vecture  or  carriage.  So,"  says  he,  "  if  the 
three  wheels  go,  wealth  will  flow  in  like  a  spring 
tide."  We  show  up  the  same  idea  in  our  colloca- 


262  EGERIA. 

tion,  "Agriculture,  Commerce,  and  Manufactures ;" 
and  the  old  doggrel  puts  the  philosophy  into  a  form 
scarcely  less  portable  : 

"  Let  the  earth  have  cultivation, 
Let  the  seas  give  circulation, 
Art  bestow  manipulation, 
And  you  build  the  mighty  nation." 

Mighty,  perhaps,  but  not  absolutely  great  or 
glorious  or  permanent,  until 

"  You  give  your  people  education  ;" 

and  I  thus  presume  to  add  a  line  which  I  conceive 
to  be  absolutely  necessary  to  the  philosophy,  if  not 
the  poetry. 

IMPROMPTU. 

The  following  impromptu,  to  a  little  girl,  now  a 
fair  and  fine  woman,  has  been  lying  in  my  portfolio 
nearly  twenty  years. 

Were  I  on  Ashley's  banks,  my  dear, 

In  that  sweet  land  no  longer  mine, 
A  flower,  the  freshest,  proudest  there, 

Should  in  thy  virgin  bosom  shine; 
But  what  the  exile  may  impart, 

The  all  that  fortune  leaves  to  care, 
He  gives,  in  blessings  from  his  heart, 

For  all  the  hopes  in  thine,  my  dear. 


EGERIA.  263 

FEMININENESS  OF  GENIUS. 

It  is  the  feminine  feature  in  the  constitution  of 
genius,  that  it  argues  by  intuition — as  if  the  mind 
enjoyed  impulses  totally  independent  of  the  body — 
rather  than  by  the  ordinary  reasoning  faculty ;  and 
arrives  at  its  conclusions  rather  by  a  consentaneous 
action  of  the  thought  and  feeling,  than  by  the  slow 
processes  of  induction.  There  is  certainly  a  very 
curious  harmony  between  the  thoughts  and  the 
sympathies,  in  the  constitution  of  genius ;  and  this 
is  perhaps  the  sufficient  reason  why  its  utterances 
are  usually  so  full  of  equal  energy  and  beauty — 
why  it  speaks  with  such  confidence  and  power — its 
voice  being  like  the  flight  upward  of  a  great  bird, 
conscious  of  strength,  confident  of  wing,  glory 
ing  in  the  sunlight,  and  with  its  great,  clear  eye, 
always  singling  out  the  eminence  it  would  reach, 
before  it  darts,  for  its  attainment,  into  the  wide  blue 
deeps  of  air. 

REMORSE. 

Remorse  is  but  too  frequently  felt,  not  so  much 
for  past  errors  and  offences,  as  for  the  loss  of  those 
opportunities  and  powers  by  which  we  might  still 
continue  to  offend.  We  lament  rather  the  decline 


261  EGERIA. 

of  the  passions  than  their  misdirection ;  and  weep, 
not  so  much  for  the  sins  we  have  committed,  as  for 
the  sins  we  can  commit  no  longer. 

SATISFACTION  IN  DISCOVERY. 

I  see  no  reason  why  the  person  who  has  been  so 
fortunate  as  to  find  a  mare's  nest,  should  not  be 
suffered  to  cackle  over  the  eggs. 

FORTUNE. 

Happy  accidents  are  the  parents  of  a  thousand 
great  designs  ;  but  the  same  person  who  charges  all 
his  miscarriages  upon  Fortune,  never  makes  the 
least  acknowledgment  to  the  same  Goddess,  in  the 
day  of  his  success.  Sylla,  among  great  men,  is 
almost  the  only  exception  to  the  rule,  on  record. 
He  conciliated  the  favors  of  the  Goddess,  as  we  may 
do  most  of  the  sex,  by  waiving,  with  a  becoming 
humility,  his  own  claims  in  deference  to  hers. 

INGENUOUSNESS  OF  INNOCENCE. 

In  the  ingenuous  nature,  the  heart  is  continually 
looking  out  from  the  eyes,  as  a  young  girl  from  the 
window.  It  is  only  the  knoiving  damsel  who  peeps 
from  behind  the  curtain  or  the  lattice. 


EGERIA.  2(»f> 

TEARS. 

To  tell  us,  by  way  of  consolation,  that  the  object 
for  whom  we  mourn  was  mortal,  is  to  offer  the  very 
reason  for  our  tears.  Tears  are  the  undoubted  lan 
guage  of  mortality.  Were  the  case  not  remediless, 
consolation  would  be  easy ;  and  we  should  weep,  if 
only  at  the  lesson  which  reminds  us  that  we  are 
mortal  also.  Besides,  how  should  we  forbear  our 
sorrows,  when  we  discover  that  one  who  was  a  per 
petual  source  of  joy,  can  also  prove  a  perpetual 
source  of  privation  ? 

THE  HEART. 

Alas !  how  should  we  doubt  of  the  fortunes  of  the 
heart,  when  it  was  in  the  shape  of  Love  that  Ahri- 
manes  first  found  his  way  into  the  egg  of  Ormusd  ? 

CHARITY. 

It  is  charity,  I  suppose,  that  sometimes  puts  out 
a  poor  man's  candle,  and  reproaches  him  for  going 
in  the  dark.  We  are  apt  to  disparage  the  educa 
tion  of  the  poor,  and  to  oppose  all  legislation  in  its 
favor  ;  but  nobody  allows  us  to  forget  that  poverty 
is  very  ignorant,  very  immoral,  and  of  the  most  un 
becoming  tastes  and  propensities. 
23 


266  EGERIA. 

SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

No  people  can  be  esteemed  equal  to  the  duties 
of  self-government,  whose  ignorance  or  cupidity 
is  such  that  they  dare  not  look  the  cost  of  their 
liberties  in  the  face. 

A  COMPLIMENT  TO  HUMILITY. 

It  must  be  very  grateful  to  the  man  who  humbly 
estimates  his  own  claims,  that  the  world  always 
heartily  approves  his  judgment. 

GREAT  MEN. 

Great  men  are  a  common  property.  They  form 
the  solar  system  for  the  world  of  mind,  and  shine 
more  or  less  brightly  upon  all  the  nations. 

FALL  AND  SPRING. 

The  English  describe  as  a  provincialism  of  Ame 
rica,  the  use  of  the  term  "  Fall,"  to  indicate  our  au 
tumn  ;  but  how  properly  is  this  word  the  antagonist 
to  "  Spring,"  as  the  indication  of  the  opposite  sea 
son.  The  Spring  of  the  leaf  and  the  Fall  of  the 
leaf  find  their  sources  in  a  common  figure;  are 
equally  pleasing  and  equally  proper. 


EGERIA.  267 

ARGUMENT. 

Never  argue  with  a  fool.  The  probability  is  that 
he  will  never  understand  you,  and  if  you  understand 
him,  you  are  apt  to  gain  nothing  by  it.  In  all  pro 
bability  you  will  misunderstand  each  other.  The 
very  attempt  of  a  fool  to  argue,  shows  the  posses 
sion  of  an  ominous  self-esteem.  This  will  always 
make  him  suspicious  of  a  superior.  Your  very 
generalities  will  vex  him  as  so  many  personalities, 
and  he  will  be  apt  to  resent  his  own  emptiness  of 
head  by  testing  physically  the  strength  of  yours. 
Risk  nothing  with  this  class  of  persons.  You  can 
not  find  a  fit  antagonist  in  their  heads,  and  should 
beware  of  their  heels. 

CONVENTIONAL  VIRTUE. 

Conventional  virtue  is  only  an  outer  barrier  to  that 
which  is  intrinsic ;  but  it  is  a  barrier  never  over 
thrown  until  the  citadel  is  prepared  to  surrender. 

FASHIONS. 

A  light  and  frivolous  people  may  do  a  thousand 
things  with  impunity,  that  it  will  not  be  safe  for  an 
earnest  and  impassioned  race  to  think  of.  When 
fashions,  borrowed  from  foreign  nations,  persuade  a 


268  EGERIA. 

departure  from  the  customs  of  a  people,  there  is  al 
ways  some  danger  of  a  loss  of  purity  from  the  adop 
tion  of  the  new. 

PASSION. 

What  may  be  mere  folly  to  you,  might  be  my 
madness.  Your  safety  lies  in  the  rapidity  with 
which  you  pass  from  passion  to  passion.  With  me, 
the  passion  must  burn  out  first  before  it  passes. 
My  lamp  is  of  naphtha.  I  must  beware  how  it 
meets  the  flame. 

POLITICS  IN  THE  DOG  DAYS. 
We  perceive  some  slight  disposition  among  our 
younger  politicians,  always  to  wax  warm  as  the  sea 
son  advances,  and  to  spice  their  discussions  with 
acrid  and  ascetic  condiments.  But  we  trust  that 
the  temper  with  which  the  thing  is  done  will  be  lia 
ble  to  no  misconstruction.  Experienced  politicians, 
particularly  if  they  have  objects  in  view  which  they 
profess  to  regard  as  patriotic,  are  not  apt  to  employ 
such  a  seasoning  for  their  argumentative  dishes ; 
and  taking  into  consideration  the  always  notorious 
wisdom  which  belongs  to  youth,  and  making  due 
allowance  for  its  superior  zeal  and  enthusiasm,  we 
are  bound  to  assume,  when  they  say  sharp  and 


EGERIA.  269 

spicy  things  to  one  another,  that  they  employ  them 
in  a  sense  purely  Pickwickian.  In  this  way,  a  rea 
sonable  stomach  may  stand  a  great  deal,  and  the 
sufferer  will  always  employ  a  retort  in  the  same 
fashion  and  spirit.  A  good  lesson  is  afforded 
among  the  anecdotes  of  the  Continent.  A  young 
Prince,  warmed  by  wine  and  wassail,  and  living  on 
the  best  possible  terms  with  himself,  on  one  occasion 
threw  the  drops  of  wine  remaining  in  the  bottom  of 
his  glass  into  the  face  of  one  of  his  father's  generals. 
"  My  Prince,"  replied  the  General,  quietly  filling 
his  glass  the  while,  "  you  are  not  experienced  in 
this  sort  of  thing ;  let  me  show  you  how  it  should 
be  done."  Thus  saying,  he  flung  the  contents  of 
the  full  glass  into  the  face  of  the  young  philoso 
pher  ;*  and  all  this  was  done,  we  are  to  suppose,  in 
the  best  possible  temper.  There  was  no  indignity 
designed  on  either  hand.  An  error — a  mistake 
shall  we  call  it — was  committed  by  the  promising 
youth,  which  the  senior  gently  rebuked  after  a 
purely  Pickwickian  manner, — as  it  should  be.  In 
sharp  discussion  you  are  permitted  the  retort  cour 
teous,  which  is  the  grace  in  discussion;  the  retort 
abrupt,  which  is  the  sublime  of  discussion  ;  the  quip 

*  The  anecdote  is  told  of  General  Oglethorpe. 
23* 


270  EGERIA. 

valiant,  which  is  the  excruciating  of  discussion  ;  but 
when  you  pass  these  bounds,  which  the  Law  Pick 
wick  sanctions,  and  indulge  in  the  argument  conclu 
sive,  which  is  vulgarly  styled  the  "  knockdown"  ar 
gument,  or  the  "  Sockdolager"  which  Mrs.  Par- 
tington  confounds  with  "  Doxologie"  you  are 
guilty  of  an  outrage  upon  good  manners,  which  can 
not  be  too  severely  reprehended.  Now,  at  this  junc 
ture,  when  it  is  essential  to  the  common  cause  that 
we  should  be  civil  to  each  other,  we  must  beware 
how  we  err  in  this  fashion.  You  may  beard  your 
neighbor  in  patriotic  discussion,  but  beware  how 
you  take  him  by  the  beard.  You  are  respect 
fully  exhorted  to  keep  in  remembrance  the  gentle 
counsel,  so  recently  heard  in  your  nursery  ballads, — 
not  to  suffer  "your  angry  passions"  at  any  time 


Your  little  hands  were  never  made, 
To  tear  each  other's  eyes!" 

You  will  have  sufficient  uses  for  your  hands  and 
eyes,  hereafter ;  for,  if  you  cannot  see  together,  it 
will  yet  be  necessary  that  you  should  pull  together, 
if  you  would  keep  the  good  ship  that  carries  you  all, 
safe  from  the  breakers,  the  rocks,  and  a  gloomy  lee- 
shore  ! 


EGERIA.  271 

INSECTS. 

There  are  certain  insects  which  we  seek  to  brush 
away,  but  never  to  destroy.  If  they  perish  in  the 
operation,  it  is  due  rather  to  their^  inferior  vitality, 
than  to  the  purpose  of  the  destroyer.  They  have 
the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that,  in  incurring  their 
fate,  they  have  provoked  no  bad  feeling  in  the 
breast  of  him  who  has  been  unwillingly  their  exe 
cutioner. 

EXECUTIONER. 

I  can  readily  understand  how  certain  people 
merit  the  gallows,  but  I  am  slow  to  perceive  why 
I  should  be  Jack  Ketch  on  the  occasion. 

WEAPONS. 

The  man's  plan  of  warfare  is  always  in  corre 
spondence  with  his  own  nature.  Filth  is  the  natu 
ral  weapon  of  the  hand  that  flings  it. 

ETERNITY. 

The  very  vagueness  of  the  opening  of  Genesis  is 
full  of  significance.  "In  the  Beginning,"  is  preg 
nant  with  mystery  and  meaning.  "In  the  Begin 
ning."  "Yes,  but  when?"  Still  "In  the  Begin- 


272  EGBBIA. 

ning."  The  mind  fails  to  grasp  anything  farther, 
though  conscious  of  a  wonderful  history  in  reserve. 
The  idea  of  a  beginning  is  quite  as  difficult  as  that 
of  a  close,  so  far  as  concerns  the  question  of  crea 
tion.  The  difficulty  with  us  lies  in  the  simple  fact 
that  all  our  standards  of  judgment  are  based  upon 
things  and  objects  of  Time.  Now,  Time  had  a 
beginning,  and  will  have  an  ending;  while  Eternity 
is  now,  always  was,  and  always  will  be.  Time  is 
only  an  episode  in  the  drama,  which  was  never 
begun,  never  will  end,  and  is  always  in  progress. 
Eternity  is  a  circle  gradually  widening  for  us,  and 
which  we  can  only  penetrate  when  we  escape  from 
Time — a  circle  complete  from  the  beginning,  always 
a  beginning — to  us  a  be-coming  (to  employ  a  foreign 
idiom),  and  which  we  shall  probably  understand 
only  when  we  come  to  Be  ! 

BOWS  AND  BEAUX. 
Emmeline  boasts  two  strings  to  her  bow: 

Might  I  teach  her  a  happier  thing — 
Then  should  the  thoughtless  damsel  know 

Better  to  carry  two  beaux  to  her  string. 

Susan,  with  luckier  judgment  led, 
Wisely  and  silently  shapes  her  lot ; 


EGEHIA.  273 

And  never  with  vain  delusions  fed, 

Soon  turns  her  one  beau  (bow)  into  a  knot. 

HEAT  AND  HEALTH. 

We  suspect  that  the  summer  is  now  fully  and 
fairly  upon  us.  Were  you  alive  yesterday,  gentle 
reader  ?  If  so,  another  question — are  you  alive 
to-day  ?  We  congratulate  you  if  you  are  quite  able 
to  answer  the  question.  The  thermometer  at  94°  in 
the  shade,  is  no  favorable  sign  of  a  cool,  comforta 
ble  condition  of  the  atmosphere.  Under  such  a 
pressure  of  heat,  it  is  mere  impertinence  to  counsel 
you  to  keep  cool.  But,  we  believe,  that  we  can 
safely  counsel  you  to  keep  ivell,  without  offending 
your  self-esteem,  or  the  usual  placidity  of  your 
temper.  Your  policy  will  be  to  recognise  the  con 
viction  prevailing  among  certain  people  of  the  East. 
There,  the  solicitude,  when  one  meets  his  friend  in 
very  hot  weather,  is  expressed  in  a  query  which  is 
sufficiently  homely  for  the  commonest  understand 
ing.  You  meet  your  friend  each  day,  and  as  you 
encounter,  the  question  is  put  by  both  voices,  each 
taking  his  neighbor's  hand,  and  looking  into  his 
eyes  with  most  tender  solicitude :  u  How  do  you 
sweat  to-day?"  The  inquiry  is  a  coarse  one,  no 


274  EGERIA. 

doubt,  but  it  is  full  of  meaning.  If  it  cannot  be 
answered  satisfactorily — if  the  skin  of  either,  that 
day,  is  dry  and  sluggish  —  if  the  pores  have  not 
done  their  duty  in  the  case  of  either — the  other 
hurries  off,  and,  as  an  act  of  friendship,  calls  in  the 
undertaker,  who  measures  his  friend  for  his  coffin. 
He  is  supposed  to  need  it  in  the  next  twenty-four 
hours. — Politeness  requires  that,  if  we  ask  the  same 
question,  we  use  a  different  phraseology.  We  may 
even  put  it  into  rhyme  : 

"  Do  your  pores 
Keep  open  doors  ?" 

If  they  do  not,  see  to  it  directly;  move  briskly, 
and  get  into  a  perspiration  with  all  possible  speed, 
that  you  may  answer  your  friend's  question  to  his 
satisfaction  and  your  own. 

THE  NONPAREIL. 

It  is  said  of  the  Nonpareil,  a  tiny  and  beautiful 
bird  of  the  South,  which  sings  very  sweetly  when 
at  home,  that,  when  carried  abroad,  he  loses  entirely 
his  voice.  Whether  this  be  fact  or  fable,  I  am  not 
prepared  to  say.  On  one  occasion,  however,  in  a 
northern  city,  he  was  pointed  out  to  me  as  an  ex- 


EGERIA.  275 

ample  of  this  musical  loss,  and  the  subject  was  sug 
gested  as  highly  suited  to  poetry.  But  I,  too,  was 
in  exile,  and  vmy  right  hand  had  lost  its  cunning 
also.  This  will  account  for  the  baldness  and  cold 
ness  of  the  following  impromptu. 

'Tis  our  own  bird,  the  Nonpareil,  whose  sorrow, 

When  ye  have  borne  him  from  his  native  home, 
Speaks  for  the  Poet's  grief,  who  may  not  borrow 

One  voice  from  Song  thus  doomed  afar  to  roam. 
Vain  all  his  toilsome  strains ; — the  fond  endeavor 

Still  fruitless  trembles  on  his  tuneless  lips  : 
Like  that  sad  bird,  the  exiled  Bard  must  ever 

Deplore  his  Muse's  soul  in  dark  eclipse. 

RIGHT  AND  JUSTICE. 

It  is  much  easier  to  get  money  than  to  get  justice. 
The  world  is  apt  to  resent,  as  a  wrong  done  to  its 
self-esteem,  that  you  should  claim  anything  as  a 
right.  It  prefers  to  bestow,  as  a  charity,  that 
which  you,  properly,  perhaps,  can  regard  only  as  a 

debt. 

WEALTH  A  DANGER. 

The  degree  of  criminality,  under  all  tyrannies, 
ancient  and  modern,  was  always  proportioned  to 
the  equal  wealth  and  weakness  of  the  offender.  The 
fat  sheep  is  always  most  full  of  provocation. 


276  EGERIA. 

INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHARACTER. 

Most  people  value  us  in  proportion  to  the  quality 
of  independence  in  our  characters.  We  must  com 
pel,  and  cannot  conciliate,  respect;  we  may  find 
favor,  and  secure  friendship — nay,  disarm  hostility, 
by  conciliation ;  but  the  deference  of  men  is  gra 
duated  in  just  degree  with  their  convictions  of  your 
individuality,  the  sense  of  independence  which  you 
feel,  and  the  coercive  influence  which  you  thence 
enjoy,  and  by  which  you  force  the  same  convictions 
upon  them. 

ENTREATY. 

How  often  do  we  entreat  the  favor  which  it  makes 
us  shudder  to  think  may  be  granted  to  our  entreaties. 
Politeness  thus  frequently  sacrifices  to  vulgarity  and 
courtesy  will  do  the  honors,  where  both  taste  and 
feeling  may  recoil  from  their  object. 

GREATNESS. 

One's  greatness  does  not  depend  upon  his  posi 
tion,  but  upon  his  ability  to  use  it  fully.  Yet  the 
ape,  scrambling  into  the  purple,  will  have  his  wor 
shippers.  It  is  the  consolation  of  humanity,  in  such 


EGERIA.  277 

cases,  that  the  God  is  not  unworthy  of  the  priest 
hood. 

AUDACITY  OF  EVIL. 

How  wilful  is  that  judgment  which  shuts  the  door 
against  Love,  and  opens  it  to  his  rival.  The  affec 
tions  tap  modestly,  as  always  distrusting  themselves, 
and  fearing  to  obtrude.  But  hypocrisy  is  never 
without  pretension,  and  we  too  frequently  yield  to 
audacity  what  is  only  due  to  prayer.  Love  may  be 
likened  to  the  humble  mendicant,  who  looks  his  un- 
worthiness  while  he  entreats  your  bounty.  It  is 
passion  and  selfishness  only,  which,  assuming  his 
name,  assail  you  on  the  highway,  with  their  "  Stand 
and  deliver!" — claiming  as  their  right,  the  boon, 
which  is  only  precious  as  a  charity. 

WEALTH. 

Beauty  may  be  without  a  single  jewel,  yet  not 
without  riches,  if  the  world  will  involuntarily  ex 
claim,  how  worthy  she  is  to.  wear  the  brightest. 
Better  that  men  should  ask  why  she  does  not,  than 
why  she  does. 

WRONG  AND  RIGHT. 

To  stop  doing  wrong  is  the  simple  process  with 
24 


278  EGERIA. 

which  to  begin  the  work  of  doing  right ;  but  vanity 
commonly  perseveres  in  the  path  of  error,  for  no 
better  reason  than  a  reluctance  to  make  to  others 
that  confession  which  it  has  already  made  to  itself. 
In  the  case  of  weak  persons  how  strong  will  be  the 
tenacious  obstinacy  with  which  they  cling  to  errors, 
simply  because  their  neighbors  are  looking  on. 

AMATEURS. 

These  amateurs, — were  they  only  content  with 
the  praise,  without  seeking  to  deserve  it, — might 
easily  secure  satisfaction  for  all  their  claims,  with 
out  perilling  them  by  unnecessary  discussion  of  their 
merit.  Would  they  only,  like  the  beggar  on  the 
highway,  be  satisfied  to  take  the  obolus,  without 
distressing  the  giver  by  their  painful  stories,  which 
we  know  to  be  lies,  we  should  feel  the  duties  of 
charity  less  burdensome  upon  us,  and  they  would 
retire  with  a  less  humiliating  consciousness  of  the 
extent  of  the  bounty  they  receive. 

FRUIT  AND  FOOD. 

Fruits,  as  fruits,  arc  good  things, — as  food,  evil, 
Beware  of  confounding  the  dinner  with  the  dessert. 
He  who  makes  a  meal  of  his  pudding,  will  soon  find 
his  pudding  only  meal 


EGERIA.  270 

FORTUNE  DUE  TO  COURAGE. 

Fortune  is  usually  most  perverse  where  the  ad 
venturer  is  most  feeble.  Will  always  masters  op 
portunity.  "  My  son,"  said  the  priestess  of  Apollo, 
as  Alexander  of  Macedon,  preparing  for  his  expedi 
tion,  forced  her  towards^the  tripod^  "  My  son,  thou 
art  irresistible."  He  immediately  released  her,  as 
sured  that  no  more  agreeable  response  could  issue 
from  the  oracle. 

THE  BASE. 

The  alliances  of  the  base  and  mean  are  seldom 
of  long  duration.  Lacking  principle,  which  is  the 
only  secret  of  a  permanent  connexion  of  any  kind, 
they  find  it  more  easy  to  peril  their  profits,  than  to 
yield  their  faith  to  one  another. 

DEFORMITY. 

I  can  more  easily  understand  why  deformity  of 
person  should  make  one  wretched,  than  why  beauty 
should  make  one  vain.  The  weakness  which  desires 
to  please  is  an  amiable  one,  and  there  is  no  good 
reason  why  the  recipient  of  God's  bounty  should  be 
vain  of,  rather  than  grateful  for  it. 


280  EGERIA. 

GHOSTS. 

I  suppose  that,  but  for  a  purgatory,  we  should  be 
permitted  to  see  more  ghosts.  The  process  of  puri 
fication  must  render  the  world  which  they  have  left, 
exceedingly  distasteful  to  those  who  are  about  to  be 
made  perfect ;  and  if  the  danger  did  not  exactly 
arise  from  this  cause,  it  might  from  the  difficulty  of 
urging  forwards  the  process  with  sufficient  rapidity, 
with  so  many  familiar  temptations  for  ever  present 
to  their  eyes.  The  old  wallow  frequently  invites 
the  yearning  of  him  whom  Fortune  has  enabled  to 
pass  into  a  palace. 

NATIVE  SOIL. 

-  That  only  is  the  native  soil  of  Genius  in  which  it 
takes  root  and  flourishes.  At  all  events,  a  nation 
must  show  that  it  has  been  the  nursery  of  its  great 
man,  or  it  takes  no  credit  from  his  growth.  The 
care  and  cultivation  of  a  people  can  alone  establish 
their  just  right  to  the  productions  of  the  soil. 

POETRY  AND  THE  ARTS. 

Poetry  and  the  fine  arts  generally,  are  pursuits, 
which  usually  disparage  their  professors  in  the  re 
gards  of  vulgar  people.  They  are  supposed  by  the 


EGERIA.  281 

ignorant  to  be  incompatible  with  the  useful,  as  they 
wear  a  less  material  aspect  than  all  other  occupa 
tions.  Beggary  and  genius  have  become  the  pro 
verbial  synonyines  among  the  vulgar  of  almost 
every  nation  ;  and  nothing  is  more  distressing  to  the 
green  grocer  or  the  butter  merchant,  than  the  dread 
ful  apprehension  that  his  favorite  son,  Jacky,  may 
yet  turn  out  to  be  a  genius. 

THE  POOR. 

The  poor,  it  is  written,  shall  never  cease  out  of 
the  land,  and  for  this  reason,  perhaps,  if  no  other, 
that  charity  is  too  precious  a  virtue  to  be  foregone 
in  the  exercise  of  those  by  which  the  proud  heart 
is  to  be  kept  modest  and  in  subjection. 

SOCIAL  INDEPENDENCE. 

The  secret  of  social  independence  lies  in  ascer 
taining  exactly  upon  how  little  it  is  possible  to  live, 
and  in  accommodating  our  expenditure  to  this  stan 
dard.  When  this  condition  is  attained,  there  is  no 
wealth  sufficiently  great  to  persuade  you  to  the  bar 
ter  of  a  principle  or  feeling. 

POPULAR  POETRY. 

The  great  majority  of  men  have  no  sympathy 
24* 


282  EGERIA. 

with  poetry  or  the  fine  arts.  It  is  mostly  an  affec 
tation  when  they  assert  their  sympathy.  The  poetry 
which  ordinarily  pleases,  and  enters  into  the  general 
sense,  is  rather  the  expression  of  a  familiar  senti 
ment,  which  they  can  understand  and  appreciate  in 
common  use,  than  the  utterance  and  embodiment  of 
any  ideal.  Rhyme  commends  to  them,  in  a  portable 
form,  a  commonplace  which  they  acknowledge ;  and 
appeals,  in  this  way,  rather  to  their  memories  than 
their  tastes.  The  original  poet  has  a  phraseology 
of  his  own,  which  offends  the  unfamiliar  ear.  This 
accounts  for  much  of  the  hostility  of  contemporary 
criticism.  Many  of  the  passages  of  Milton  and 
Shakspeare,  which  we  now  find  so  precious  and 
happy,  were  discussed  as  offensive  novelties,  when 
uttered  first,  and  censured  in  due  degree  with  their 
freshness. 

POLICY. 

It  is  not  so  sure  that  he  who  hurrahs  for  nothing 
will  not  gain  something  by  any  hurrah.  Where 
there  is  no  enthusiasm  there  is  apt  to  be  cunning, 
and  he  who  lacks  the  impulses  of  a  Scipio,  may  yet 
be  familiar  with  the  most  subtle  policies  of  a  Tal 
leyrand. 


EGERIA.  283 

DESERT. 

We  shall  always  find  in  our  secret  consciousness, 
a  sufficient  justification  for  all  the  severities  of  for 
tune  under  which  we  suffer. 

MENTAL  VISION. 

The  snail  is  not  less  a  traveller,  because  his  circuit 
is  small  and  his  pace  slow.  The  world  always  ac 
commodates  itself  to  the  capacities  of  the  creature. 
He  who  has  noted  all  within  the  compass  of  the 
vision,  is  worthy  to  have  circumnavigated  the  globe. 

MORAL  DEFENCE. 

Of  all  defences,  there  is  none  comparable  to 
habitual  insignificance.  Obscurity  is  the  seven-fold 
shield  of  bull-hides,  tougher  than  that  of  Ajax.  If 
anywhere  assailable,  it  is  only,  like  Achilles,  in  the 
heel. 

THE  CRIMINAL. 

Pliny,  in  one  of  his  celebrated  letters,  says,  that 
though  there  may  be  some  use  in  setting  the  mark 
upon  the  criminal  by  way  of  example,  there  will  be 
more  in  sparing  him  for  the  sake  of  humanity.  It 
is  not  unfrequently  the  case  that  justice  gains  at  the 


284  EGERIA. 

expense  of  humanity.  It  does  not  unfrequently 
happen  that  the  laws,  in  the  operation  of  penalties, 
make  great  out  of  small  criminals,  by  putting  the 
offender  so  entirely  without  the  pale  of  civilization 
and  society  as  to  render  it  impossible  that  he  should 
ever  again  be  able  to  enter  within  it.  The  great 
difficulty  in  the  way  of  criminal  justice,  is  so  to  pro 
portion  the  punishment  to  the  offence,  as  to  make 
the  subject  of  its  operations,  himself,  admit  its  pro 
priety.  By  overstepping  this  limit,  justice  becomes 
harsh  and  unnatural,  and  compels  the  criminal,  not 
uncommonly,  into  acts,  proportioned  in  their  extent 
to  the  penalty  he  has  been  compelled  already  to 
abide.  Schiller  has  an  admirable  story,  the  German 
title  of  which  is  "  The  Criminal,  because  of  the 
Operation  of  the  Laws,"  that  is  to  say,  one,  who, 
though  in  the  first  instance  an  offender,  has  been 
made,  subsequently,  a  criminal,  by  the  very  laws 
which  have  been  enacted  as  a  preventive  of  his 
crime.  In  imitation  of  the  Draco-like  system  of 
Great  Britain,  our  criminal  laws  not  unfrequently 
denounce  the  penalty  of  Cain  upon  the  offence  of 
Jacob ;  and  the  brand,  which  should  be  applied  for 
the  taking  of  a  brother's  blood,  is  also  oftentimes 
the  punishment  for -partaking  of  a  brother's  pottage. 


EGEKIA.  285 

SONG  OF  MARGARET. 

The  simple,  but  very  touching  story  of  Margaret, 
in  the  "Faust"  of  Goethe,  has  been  often  admired, 
and  as  often  has  the  attempt  been  made  at  its  trans 
lation.  The  following  effort  to  clothe  it  in  English 
verse,  preserving  all  its  rustic  simplicity,  is,  I  fear, 
as  little  successful  as  any  previously  made.  A  per 
formance,  so  lavish  of  feeling,  yet  so  lacking  in 
thought,  cannot  be  translated  with  advantage  ;  and 
the  attempt  at  a  paraphrase  would  be  wholly  unjus 
tifiable. 

My  peace  is  gone, 

My  heart  is  sore, 
I  shall  never  more  find  it, 

Oh !   never  more. 

• 

Where  I  see  him  not, 

Is  a  charnel  tomb, 
And  the  whole  wide  world, 

But  a  grief  and  gloom. 

My  poor,  poor  head, 

Grows  wild  with  thought, 
My  feeble  senses, 

Are  all  distraught. 


286  EGEEIA. 

For  my  peace  is  gone, 
And  my  heart  is  sore ; 

I  shall  never  more  find  it, 
Oh !  never  more. 

I  look  from  the  window, 
In  search  of  one, 

From  the  dwelling  I  wander, 
For  him  alone. 

His  noble  port, 
His  manly  size, 

His  mouth's  sweet  smile, 
And  his  searching  eyes. 

And  then,  of  his  voice, 
The  piercing  bliss, 

His  hand's  fond  pressure, 
And  0 !  his  kiss. 

My  peace  is  gone, 
My  heart  is  sore, 

I  shall  find  it  never, 
Oh  !  never  more. 

How  my  heart  struggles, 
To  clasp  him  here, 

How  could  I  fold  him, 
And  hold  him  near. 

And  kissing  him  fondly, 

I  feel  that  I, 
Clinging  and  kissing, 

Could  die,  could  die. 


EGERIA.  287 

THE  AFFECTIONS. 

Did  we  exercise  our  affections  as  sensibly  as  our 
passions,  we  should  be  the  more  perfectly  masters, 
not  only  of  our  happiness,  but  of  our  hearts.  Of 
these,  however,  we  really  know  quite  as  little  as  we 
do  of  those  of  other  people,  and  it  is  only  in  the 
ruin  of  our  resources  that  we  are  informed  of  their 
extent. 

THE  HEART. 

The  heart  has  its  own  season  for  maturing  and  for 
fruit.  In  suffering  that  season  to  escape  us,  we 
plant  but  vainly  for  the  future. 

OCCASION. 

Occasion  is  the  accoucheur  of  genius;  but  he 
surely  is  no  genius  who  is  content  to  wait  for  the 
occasion. 

PATIENCE. 

Are  you  slandered  ?  Be  patient ; — the  viper  will 
sooner  tire  than  the  file. 

TOO  LATE. 

"  Too  late"  and  "no  more"  are  the  mournful 
sisters,  children  of  a  sire  whose  age  they  never 
console. 


283  EGERIA. 

CHARITY. 

Men  are  always  pleased  to  entertain  the  worst 
opinion  of  their  neighbors.  The  world  will  never 
believe  a  man  to  be  unfortunate,  or  a  sufferer,  so 
long  as  it  is  possible  to  insist  that  he  is  a  scoundrel. 

PURPOSE. 

There  are  some  men  whose  purposes  are  so  very 
magnificent  that  it  may  be  permitted  them  to  at 
tempt  nothing. 

MORAL  COMPROMISE. 

The  compromises  which  conscience  suffers  between 
vice  and  virtue,  deny  them  both  the  advantages  for 
which  they  are  entered  into ;  vice,  never  wholly  in 
possession  of  the  enjoyment  of  the  present  life,  as 
certainly  baffles  virtue  in  its  possession  of  the 
future.  But  man  is  so  essentially  of  two  natures, 
that  it  may  be  permitted  him  to  hope  that  the  sti 
pulations  of  the  one,  may  not  be  suffered  always  to 
impair  the  conditions  of  the  other. 

EXCUSE. 

Our  individual  philosophies  are  commonly  nothing 
more  than  the  ingenious  excuses  which  pride  offers 
for  the  wilfulness  of  all  the  other  passions. 


EGERIA.  259 

DREAMS. 

Dreams  seem  to  me  to  prove  that  the  mind  is 
always  awake  and  at  work,  and  that  it  never  par 
takes  of  the  sleep  of  the  body.  Our  convictions, 
which  come  to  us  like  instincts,  are  thoughts  which 
we  have  reached  in  our  meditations  during  sleep. 
That  we  are  conscious  of  our  dreaming  thoughts, 
and  that  they  are  usually  disjointed,  only  proves  an 
imperfect  condition  of  physical  repose. 

YOUTH  AND  AGE. 

The  eyes  of  youth  look  into  the  heart  of  its 
neighbor,  while  those  of  age  must  be  content  with 
the  melancholy  survey  of  its  own.  The  former 
contemplates  a  palace,  the  latter  a  ruin.  The  one 
sings  like  the  mocking-bird  at  the  dawn,  the  other 
shrieks  with  the  owl  at  the  sunset.  The  one  may 
be  likened  to  a  river  when  first  breaking  away 
through  the  fettering  rocks,  and  leaping  gladly  and 
triumphantly  down  the  heights  in  foam  and  sun 
shine.  The  other  to  the  same  river  hundreds  of 
miles  away  from  its  place  of  birth,  sluggishly  creep 
ing  through  marshy  plains  to  subside  finally  in  the 

drear  abysses  of  the  morass. 
25 


290  EGERIA. 

PATRIOTISM. 

He  cares  but  little  for  the  defence  of  the  city 
whose  goods  are  yet  in  the  forest  and  the  field. 

EQUALITY. 

God  may  have  made  all  men  free  and  equal,  but 
I  know  not  that  he  has  ever  promised  to  keep  them 
so. 

APPLAUSE. 

No  doubt  it  were  very  grateful  always  to  make 
our  exit  with  applause — the  awkward  doubt  com 
monly  is  whether  the  applause  is  intended  for  our 
playing  or  our  departure. 

BENEFITS. 

That  boon  is  the  most  precious  which  comes  to 
us  in  the  moment  of  privation.  The  seasonableness 
of  the  gift  compensates  for  its  poverty. 

GRIEFS. 

Great  griefs  consecrate  their  victim  in  the  sight 
of  men ; — even  as  the  lightning,  which  was  supposed, 
in  ancient  times,  to  render  sacred  the  tree  which  it 
destroyed. 


EGERIA.  291 

TEARS. 

Were  it  not  for  the  tears  that  fill  our  eyes,  what 
an  ocean  would  flood  our  hearts.  Were  it  not  for 
the  clouds  that  cover  our  landscape,  how  insolent 
would  be  our  sunshine. 

FOLLY. 

The  success  which  increases  the  fortunes  of  the 
fool,  brings  due  increase  to  his  folly  also  ;  and  an 
noyance  makes  that  offensive  which  before  was 
only  ridiculous.  There  is  no  animal  so  imperti 
nent,  as  that  which  shakes  its  head  loftily,  totally 
unconscious  of  its  monstrous  length  of  ears. 

WORSHIP. 

There  never  was  a  people  yet  who,  having  built 
the  temple,  stood  long  in  waiting  for  the  priest. 
The  conscious  wants  of  the  people  will  always  pro 
duce  the  endowment. 

NATURE. 

The  pictures  of  Nature  are  done  in  water  colors 
only,  but  how  they  mock  that  art  which  exults  in  oil. 

WOMAN. 
The  woman  who  goes  out  from  her  sex  is  always 


292  EGERIA. 

in  danger.  The  true  secret  by  which  Virtue  is  kept 
in  safety,  is  never  to  be  forgetful  of  its  weakness. 
The  devil  watches,  with  the  eager  interest  of  a  pro 
prietor,  all  that  class  of  persons  who  confidently 
say— "I  dare!" 

RUINS. 

It  is  but  too  frequently  the  case  that  we  know 
where  a  God  has  been,  only  by  the  ruins  of  his 
altar. 

ORACLES. 

We  apply  to  the  oracle  only  in  the  failure  of  our 
hope.  Why  call  in  the  physician,  when  it  is  the 
undertaker  only  who  can  be  useful  ?  How  sad  are 
the  accents  of  that  heart,  of  which  we  had  no  con 
sciousness,  until  awakened  to  the  truth  by  its  dying 
agonies  !  How  mournful  that  voice  of  counsel, 
which  rebukes  us  for  having  sought  for  it  in  vain ! 

COUNSEL. 

The  world,  which  still  cavils  at  the  fortunate,  as 
certainly  counsels  the  defeated.  Exhortation  is 
quite  as  spontaneous  and  prompt  as  envy.  The 
vanity  which  breeds  the  one  is  equally  fruitful  of 
the  other.  The  same  lips  that  denounce  success 


EGERIA.  293 

for  its  audacity,  as  confidently  teach  failure  in  what 
its  error  has  lain.  Oh  !  excellent,  wise  world,  that 
equally  well  understands  how  to  censure  both  tri 
umph  and  defeat — triumph  as  it  offends  pride,  and 
defeat  as  it  furnishes  provocation  to  vanity. 

GUILT. 

The  guilt  that  feels  not  its  own  shame  is  wholly 
incurable.  It  was  the  redeeming  promise  in  the 
fault  of  Adam,  that,  with  the  commission  of  his 
crime,  came  the  sense  of  his  nakedness. 

VIRTUE. 

How  sublime  is  the  virtue  that  still  plants  without 
any  expectation  that  it  shall  ever  reap.  He  most 
emulates  the  Deity  who  plants  for  future  genera 
tions. 

FATE. 

The  same  people  who  appeal  to  Fortune  every 
day,  would  suppose  their  religion  monstrously  out 
raged,  if  you  should  insist  also  upon  a  Fate.  Yet 
Fortune,  to  be  of  any  use  to  the  supplicant,  must 
be  Fate  also.  It  is  a  very  common  infirmity  among 
men,  to  confound  both  of  these  with  the  Deity. 


294  EGERIA. 

EXTRAVAGANCE  OF  HUMAN  EXPECTATIONS. 

The  extravagance  of  our  demands  is  continually 
mocked  by  our  necessities.  How  absurd  that  he 
who  lacks  even  his  daily  bread,  and  is  at  no  time 
sure  of  it  for  three  days  together,  will  yet  indulge 
in  dreams  of  quails  showered  from  the  heavens  ! — 
and  yet,  the  very  virtue  of  Hope,  is  to  be  found  in 
this  very  sort  of  illusion ;  and  poverty  is  solaced, 
feeding  upon  a  dream,  in  the  absence  of  any  more 
solid  viands. 

MORALS  AND  PASSION. 

No  man  writes,  or  feels,  good  morals  who  has  not 
had  wicked  thoughts.  It  is  only  by  a  knowledge  of 
the  evil,  that  we  can  understand  or  appreciate  the 
good.  Vice  is  the  natural  antagonist  of  Virtue, 
through  which  she  achieves  her  own  superiority. 
Were  there  no  vice  there  would  be  no  virtue ;  and  a 
mere  eulogy  upon  virtue  in  any  volume,  would  be 
excessively  tedious.  You  must  show  the  two  in 
contrast  and  opposition,  if  you  would  illustrate 
justly  the  beauties  of  the  one  and  the  deformities  of 
the  other.  That  inane  existence,  which  has  no 
secret  consciousness  of  evil — which  never  suffers 


EGERIA.  295 

from  temptation — never  suffers  from  any  goadings 
of  the  secret  adversary  in  our  nature — is  perfectly 
incapable  of  conceiving  the  high  nature  and  the 
necessities  of  virtue.  Such  persons  only  escape  sin 
from  their  deficient  impulses  of  every  sort.  They 
are  persons  who  stagnate,  rather  than  forbear — 
with  whom  apathy  is  the  sole  security  against  pas 
sion.  Their  serenity  is  not  in  the  superiority  of 
their  virtue,  but  in  the  sluggishness  of  their  blood. 
It  is  in  the  absence  of  animation,  not  in  the  triumph 
of  conscience,  that  they  find  repose.  Stagnation 
is  never  purity;  and  it  is  a  sad  blindness  of  heart 
that  fancies,  because  of  the  sterility  of  its  passions, 
that  its  chastity  is  positive. 


INDEX, 


A. 

PAOK 

Acquisition,  .  .  .  .  .  .19 

Action,    .......  37 

Affections,  The,       .....  75, 287 

and  the  Passions,          .  .  .  4G 

Value  of  the,        .  .  .  .  .44 

Age  and  Youth,  .....  2S9 

Aim,  .......      240 

Aims  of  Life,      ......  23 

Amateurs,     .......      278 

Ambition,  .....  25,  74,  104 

True,          ......         88 

Amiable,  The,    ......  24 

America,  Progress  in,  .  .  .  .  .01 

American  Character,      .....  12 

Angel  Spots,  .  .  .  .  .  .29 

Angels,  Child,    ......  201 

Apologue — Blind  Seekers,   .  .  .  .  .85 

of  Genius,       .  .  .  .  .  13:2 


298  INDEX, 


IMCE 


Apothegms,               .             .•            .             .  .             .15 

Applause,           ......  290 

Argument,    ....             .              .  .             .207 

Art  tributary  to  Genius,               .             .  .             .                98 

Atonement,  .             .             .             .              .  ....         53 

Attachments,      .              .             .              .  ,             ,197 

Attributes  of  Love,  .             ,             .              .  V            .      200 

Attrition,             ......  90 

Audacity  of  Evil,      ......      277 

Authority,            .             .             .             .  .             .                14 

B. 

Base,  The,    .         '  '..         '-V       ;    »        "    .  .             .      279 

Beauty  and  Joy,                         '   .             .  .             .             245 

Cunning  of,           '    .             .             .  .             .101 

Bees,  Privileges  of,  envied,        .             .  .              .              112 

Beggary,  Consolations  of,      .         '    .         '    .  .              .      208 

Benefaction,        .   '      '    .         '    .             .  .              .                22 

Benefits,        .              .              .              .              .  .             .290 

Beverages,  Horace  on,    .          '  .              .  .             .             248 

Birth  of  Truth,           .              .              .              .  .             .101 

Blank  Verse,       .             .             .              .  .              .             253 

Blessed  in  Denial,     .             .             .              .  .              .107 

Blind  Seekers,    .              .              .              .  .             .         41,  85 

Blindness  of  Malice,              .              .              .  .             .80 

Boeotia,  .              .              .             .             .  .             245 

Books,           .              .             .          ".%',  .             .177 

for  the  People,     .              .              .  .             .              180 

Bows  and  Beaux,    .  ....       272 


INDEX.  299 

c. 

PAGE 

Cares,  Petty,  ......       22:.} 

Censure,  .  .  .  .  .  .        IS,  179 

Motives  of,  .....         18 

Certain  Executioner,  The,          .  .  .  .  185 

Chance,        .......         23 

Character,  ......  35 

American,  .  .  .  .  .72 

Independence  of,        ....  27G 

Charity,        .  ....  265,  288 

Child  Angels,     ......  201 

Childhood,  Tears  of, 221 

Children,  Justice  to,        .  .  .  .  .  '242 

Choice  between  two  Lives,  ....      255 

Christian  Humanity,       .  .  .  .  .  178 

Coif,  The,  An  Emblem,        .  .  .  .  .1-40 

Comfort,  .  .  .  .  .  .  240 

Common  Sense,        ......         82 

Communities,     .  .  .  .  .  .  201 

Compliment,  A,  to  Humility,  .  .  .  .      260 

Condescensions  of  the  Proud,     ....  37 

Conditions  of  Liberty,  .  .  .  .  .99 

Confidence,         ......  35 

Conquest,      ........         80 

in  Elevation,  .  .  .  .  41 

Conscience,  .  .  .  .  .  .167 

Conservatism,     .  .  .  .  .  .  15 

and  Progress,  ....       237 

Consideration,    .  .  .  .  •  .  235 


800 


INDEX, 


Consolation, 

of  Merit,    . 

Consolations  of  Beggary, 
Constructiveness, 
Contemplation, 
Conventional  Virtue, 
Conversation, 
Counsel, 

Friendly,    . 

Out  of  Season, 
Courage,  Fortune  due  to. 
Credulity, 
Criminal,  The, 
Criticism, 
Cross  Purposes, 
Crude  Virtues,    . 
Cunning  of  Beauty, 


Day  Life,      . 
Dead  Weights, 
Death, 

and  Sleep, 
Decay,  National, 
Decayed  Politicians, 
Deception,  Self, 
Definitions, 
Deformity, 
Deliberation, 


D. 


PAGE 

35 
235 
208 
171 

87 
267 
207 
292 

30 

39 
279 
179 
283 

19 
185 
210 
101 


95 

234 

37,  208 

73 

30 

40 

74 

173 

.      279 
255 


INDEX.  301 

PAGE 

Delicacy,  Feminine,  .  .  .  .  .175 

Denied,  Blessed  in,          .....  107 

Dependence,  ......        7G 

Depth  of  a  Philosopher,  ....  239 

Desert,          .  .  .  .  .  .  .283 

Dcsperandum,  Nil,         .....  143 

Despotism,  Social,    .  .  .  .  .  .27 

Devotion  of  Purpose,     .  .  .  .  .  196 

Diffidence  of  True  Merit,    .  .  .  .  .261 

Diffusion  of  Truth,         .....  49 

Dinner,  What  for,     ......       189 

Discovery,  Enemies  of,  ....  97 

Satisfaction  in,    ......      2G4 

Distinction,  .  .  .  .  .  .  21,  94 

Purity  of,  .....         32 

Dog-Days,  Politics  in  the,  ....  268 

Dolce  Far  Niente,    ......      246 

Domestic  Magnanimity,  ....  143 

Dramatic  Pictures,    ......       180 

Dreams,  ......  289 

Dull  Weather,  .  ...  198 


Earnestness,               ......  233 

Effect  of  Troubles,         .  222 

Egeria,          .......  13 

Egotism,             .             .             .             .             .             .  243 

Egotists,        .                          .....  54 

Eminence,  Penalties  of,                             ...  170 


304  INDEX. 


PAGE 

Friend?,  Forgiveness  of, 

34 

Self-esteem  in,                .             .             .   . 

172 

Friendship,                 ..... 

.       171 

Forbearance  in,       .             . 

159 

Rarity  of, 

.       17:2 

Future,  The,       ...... 

201 

Hopes  of  the,           .... 

.       220 

G. 

Genius,          ...... 

.         75. 

and  Talent,        ..... 

52 

Art  tributary  to, 

98 

Apologue  of, 

132 

Fehninineness  of, 

.      203 

Germs,   ....... 

1G9 

Ghost?,          ...... 

.      280 

Ghost-seeing,      ...... 

109 

Glory,            ...... 

.       148 

God  and  Fortune,           ..... 

41 

Natural  Idea  of,              .... 

.       135 

and  Man,    ...... 

165 

Gold  and  Silver,       ..... 

.      243 

Good  Servants,      ...... 

24 

Advice,  for  the  Fourth  of  July, 

.       188 

and  Evil  Genii,    ..... 

212 

Government,             ..... 

43 

Tinker?,    ..... 

251 

Self, 

.      2GG 

Gratitude,            .                                           ... 

235 

INDEX, 


305 


Gratitude,  Social, 
Great  Names,     . 

Men,  . 
Greatness, 

Ignorance  of, 
Grief,  Remedies  for, 
Griefs, 

Group,  Relations  in  a,    . 
Guilt, 


PACE 

35 

00,  178 

.      2G6 

270 

228 

47 

.  290 
180 
293 


Habits, 

Habitual  Impulse, 

Heart,  The, 

Springs  of  the, 

Heat  and  Health, 

Help,  Hurtful,    . 

Neighborly,     . 

Heresy,  . 

Highways,  Roman,  . 

Home,    . 

Hopes  of  the  Future, 

Horace  on  Politics, 

in  Dishabille, 
to  his  Lyre, 
on  Beverages, 

Hostility  of  England, 

How  to  Enjoy, 


59 
209 

2G5-287 

225 

.       273 

255 

.      244 
29 

.      214 

254 

220 

77 

.  144 
105 

.  248 
244 
179 


30G  INDEX. 

PAOE 

Human  Expectations,  Extravagance  of,              .             .  294 

Frailty,         ......  82 

Need, 150 

Humanity  of  Love,  ......  73 

Christian,       .....  178 

Humility  of  Love,    .             .              .              .             .              .  32 

A  Compliment  to,        .              .                           .  200 

I. 

Ideal,  The,   .             .                           .             .            '.-             .  147 

Idleness,              .             .             .  -         ;             .             .  240 

Ignorance  of  Greatness,        .             ,         .    .             .              .  228 

Iliad,  The,           .           ..           >.           v.             .             .  245 
Immortality,               .           -.             .             .             .             .71 

Impolicy  of  Inferior  Standards,              .             .              .  217 

Impromptu,              • .             .             .             .             .             .  202 

Impulse,  Habitual,          .....  209 

Imputation  of  Motives,         .....  252 

Independence,    ......  39 

of  Character,                ....  270 

Social,      .....  281 

Inequalities,               ......  50 

Inferiority,           ......  50 

Infirmity  of  Purpose,  .  .  .  .  .234 

Influence,  Maternal,       .....  200 

Innocence,  Ingenuousness  of,            ....  204 

Security  of,  .             .             .             .             .  31 

Inscription,  .......  145 

Indiscretion  of  Love,     .....  148 


INDIIX.  807 


Insects,          .......      211 

Insecurity  of  Vice,          .....  25 

Instincts  of  Men,      .  .  .  .  .  .123 

Investments,       ......  80 

Irresolution,  ......        5G 

J. 

Jest,        .......  70 

Journey,  The  Life,   .  .             .             .             .  .221 

Joy  and  Beauty,  .....  245 

Judgment,    .              .  .             .             .              .  .197 

Severity  of,  .             .             .             .             .  216 

Justice,         .  .....         08 

to  Children,  .....  242 

and  Right,     .  .             .              .              .  .275 

K. 

Kind  Words  in  Season,  .  .  .  .  243 

Knowledge,  Self-,     ......        52 


Labor,    ....  .52 

its  Value,        .  .  .  .  .  .150 

Ladies,  Sigh  no  More,    .....  227 

Landscape,  .......       14G 

Late,  Too, 287 

Laws,  .......        53 

Fitness  of,  ,  .  .  .  .  •          25G 

Learn  to  Forget,       .  .  .  .  .  .134 


303  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Liberty,  Rational,            .....  49 

Conditions  of,  .....         99 

Life,        .......  83 

Aims  of,             .    >.         .              .              .             .  .23 

Kay, 95 

Journey,  The,   .              .              .              .              .  .221 

Love,      .              .              .              .              .              .01,  141,207 

Attributes  of,    .              .              .             .             .  .      200 

Humanity  of,          .....  73 

Humility  of,     .             .              .             .             .  .32 

Indiscretion  of,                    .             .              .             .  148 

of  Self,          .....             .              .              .  .      201 

Loves,  First,       .             .             .             .             .             .  174 

Loving  Wisely,         .             .             .             .             .  .190 


M. 

Magnanimity,  Domestic,       .....  143 

Major  Noah's  Cloak,       .                           .             .             .  159 

Malice,  Blindness  of,  .  .  .  .  .80 

Man,  Elrror  natural  to,    .              .              .             .             .  50 

Manhood,      .......  224 

Margaret,  Song  of,                        .              .             .             .  285 

Marriage  Secrets,      .              .             .             .  17 

Maternal  Influences,       .              .              .              .             .  2 GO 

Memory,       .......  93 

Men,  Great,        ......  200 

Instincts  of,      .              .              .              .              .              .  123 

of  the  World,                                                  .             .  177 


INDEX.  309 

PAGE 

Mental  Vision,  ......      283 

Merit,  Consolation  of,     .  .  .  .  .  235 

Diffidence  of  True,    .  .  .  .  .201 

Moderation  in  Progress,  ,  95 

Modesty, 169 

Mood  and  Will,  .....  60 

Moral  Compromise,  .....      288 

Defence,  .  .  .  .  .  283 

Objects, 104 

Progress, 202 

The,  of  a  Blot,  .  .  .  ...        95 

Morals,  .'....  15 

and  Passion,  .  .  .  .  .294 

of  Sorrow,          .....  144 

Morality,  Popular,    .  .  .  .  .  .45 

Motive  and  Pretext,       .....  49 

Motives,  Imputation  of,         .  .  .  .  .252 

Motives  of  Censure,        .....  IS 

Music, 240 

N. 

Names,  Great,       -   .             .             .             .             .  50,  178 

National  Decay,               .....  30 

Pauses,       .              .              .              .             .  .48 

Pride  and  Vanity,        .              .             .             .  51 

Prosperity,              .             .             .             .  .39 

Native  Soil,        ......  280 

Natural 'Ideas  of  God,           .             .             .             .  .135 

Nature,                .             .             .             .            ,             .  291 

27 


310  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Necessities  and  Wants,  .             .             .             .  .217 

Necessity  and  Taste,      .....  34 

Need,  Human,           .  .             .             .             .  .150 

Neighborly  Help,            .             .             .             .             .  244 

Nil  Desperandum,    .  ...             .             .  .       143 

Noah's,  Major,  Cloak,     .             .             .             .             .  159 

Nonpareil,  The,        .  .             .             .             .  .274 

Nothing  in  Nothingness,             ....  142 

O. 

Obligation,   .              .             .             .             .             .             .  21,  70 

Occasion,            .            ,             .             .             .             .  2S7 

and  Principle,        .....  220 

"  Odi  d'un  Uom  che  Muore,"     ....  15G 

Offspring,      .......  43 

Old  and  Young,              .             .             .             .             .  197 

Opinion,  Freedom  of,            .....  47 

Oracles,               .              .             .             .             .             .  292 

Oriental  Poetry,        ......  220 

Origin,    .......  221 

P. 

Pacuvius,      .  .  .  .  .-  .  .213 

Paragraphs,        .  .  .  .,  .  .  235 

Passion,         .......      208 

and  Morals,        .  .  .  .  .  294 

Faith,    ......        82 

Passions,  ......  40 


INDEX.  311 

PAGE 

Passions,  The,  and  Affections,          .  .  .  .40 

and  Virtues,    .....  207 

Past  and  Present,     ...  .212 

Patience,  .  .  .  •  •  .32,  287 

Patriotism, 16,236,290 

of  Truth, 103 

Pauses,  National,      .  .  .  .  •  .48 

Penalties  of  Eminence,  ....  176 

Penalty,        .......        94 

People,  Books  for  the,    ....  186 

and  Politicians,        .  .  .  .  .225 

Perfection,          .  .  .  .  .  .  81 

Performance, 80,213 

Perverse,  The,  ......  191 

Petty  Cares,  .  .  .  .  .  .222 

Philosopher,  Depth  of  a  .  .  .  .  239 

Philosophy  of  Selfishness,   .  .  .  .  .34 

and  Poetry,  .  .  .  .  27 

Phlegm, 168 

Pictures,  Dramatic,         .  .  .  .  .  180 

Pity, 226 

Pleasure, 233 

Poet,  The, 26 

Poetry, 80,  239 

Oriental, 226 

Popular, 281 

and  the  Arts, 280 

Poets, 1(57 

Policy, 282 


312  INDEX. 


PAGE 

Politicians,          ...  53 

Decayed,               .             .  .             .              .40 

and  People,                .  .                                         225 

Politics,  Horace  on,  ....  77 

in  the  Dog-days,             .  .                                         268 

Poor,  The,    .              .  .                                  281 

Popular  Morality,            .              .  45 

Population,  .              .            ..  034 

Position,                          ..,  ^9 

Poverty  and  Wealth,         ...            ..  38 

Prayer,  .            ..            ...        t,  ^             m             _             253 

Prayers  to  Fortune,              ..            ..  \.                                  23G 

Presumption,      .            ..           tm  -      '  ...                                       255 

Pretext  and  Motive,             ..           ";.  ..                                    49 

Pride  and  Vanity,             ...  01 

National,  .            ..  .             .                      51 

Primitive  Freedom,      ....  .                                         175 

Principle  and  Occasion,        .            ..  226 

Privileges  of  Bees  Envied,       ..  ,.             .             .             no 

^ogress, 45?81 

and  Conservatism,       .  .             .                           237 

in  America.            .             .  .             .                      01 

in  Religion,      .             .  .              .                           219 

Moderation  in,                     .  .             .             .         95 

Moral,               .             .  .                                         202 

Proof  of  Senatorial  Wisdom,  .                     238 

Prosperity,  National,      .....  39 

Secret  of,           .  .             .             .261 

Proud,  Condescensions  of  the,   .  37 


INDEX. 


313 


Punishment, 

Punishments, 

Purity  of  Distinction, 

Purpose, 

Devotion  of, 
Infirmity  of, 

Purposeless  Thought, 

Purposes,  Cross, 


PAGE 

.  167 
93 
32 

113,288 

.      196 

234 

23 

185 


R. 


Race,  The, 

Ranz  Des  Vaches, 

Rarity  of  Friendship, 

Rational  Liberty, 

Reason, 

and  Revelation, 
Relations  in  a  Group, 
Religion,  Progress  in, 
Remedies  for  Grief, 
Remorse, 
Resolve, 
Reverie, 
Revolution,  . 
Right  and  Justice, 

Wrong,    . 
Roman  Highways, 
Royal  Great  Ones,    . 
Ruins,     . 


27 
157 

.       172 
49 

56,  181 
26 

.      ISO 

219 

47 

263 

.       163 

134 

51 

275 

.      277 
214 

.       192 
292 


27* 


314  INDEX. 


s. 

PAGE 

Satisfaction  in  Discovery,     .....      264 

Saxon  Epigrams,  .  .  .  .  .  125 

Scepticism,  .  .  .  .  .  .44 

Search,  .  .  .  .  .  .  173 

Secret  of  National  Prosperity,  .  .  .  .261 

Secrets,  .  .  .  .  .  .  17 

Marriage,     .  .  .  .  .  .17 

Security  of  Innocence,  .  .  .  .  .  31 

Seekers,  Blind,          .  .  .  .  .  41,  85 

Self-Deception,  ^  •  .  .  .    .  74 

Esteem  and  Vanity,     .  ...         16 

and  Solitude,          ....  173 

in  Friends,        .  .  .  .  .172 

Government,  .  .  .  .  266 

Knowledge,      ......         52 

Love  of,  .  .  .  .  .  261 

Mirrors,  .  .  .  .  .  .197 

Selfishness,  Philosophy  of,          ....  34 

Senatorial  Wisdom,  Proof  of,  ....      238 

Sense,  Common,  .....  82 

Servants,  Good,         .  .  .  .  .  .24 

Service,  ......  34 

Severity  of  Judgment,          .  .  .  .  .216 

Sigh  no  more,  Ladies,    .  .  . "  .  .  227 

Sin,  .......         28 

Sincerity,  .  .  .  .  .  .  210 

Slavery,        ....  .20 


INDEX.  315 

PAGE 

Sleep,     .......  96 

and  Death,      ......         73 

Slumber,  ......  3G 

Social  Despotism,     ......        27 

Gratitude,  .....  35 

Independence,     .      .      .      .      .281 

Society,  .  .  .  .  .  70,  89 

for  the  Mind,  .  .  .  .  .89 

Soil,  Native,       ......  280 

Solitude,       .  .  .  .  .  .       28,  87,  215 

and  Self-Esteem,         .  .    '  .  173 

Song, 22 

Sorrow,  Morals  of,          .....  144 

Soul  and  Soil,  .  .  .  .  .  .164 

Souls  for  Trial,  .  .  .  .  .  137 

Soul's  Vision,  The,  .  .  .  .  .176 

Spring  and  Fall,  .....  266 

Springs  of  the  Heart,  .....      225 

Standards,  Impolicy  of  Inferior,  .  .  .  217 

Stars,  .......         60 

Statesmanship,  .  .  .  .  .  .  110 

Struggle,       .......         88 

Style, 232 

Succor,'         .......       108 

Sukey  Abroad  and  at  Home,      .  .  .  .  241 

Sun  and  Shadow,     ......        28 

Superiority,        ......  55 

Surface  Virtue,         .  ....         71 


316  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Susceptibilities  of  Thoughts  and  Things,      **  .  .  242 

Sympathy,  .....  37,  255 

T. 

Tact, 22 

Talent  and  Genius,        .....  52 

Taste  and  Necessity,  .  .  .  .  .34 

Teachers,  ......  178 

Teaching  and  Training,       .....      222 

Tears,    .  .  .  .  .  45,265,291 

of  Childhood,  '.         ^' .  .  .  .221 

Temperance,      ......  38 

Things,  Fitness  of,    .  .  .  .  ,  .233 

Thorns,  Wayside,  .  .  .  .  -      173 

Thought,  Purposeless,  .  .  .  .  .23 

Time,     .......  142 

Tinkers,  Government,  .....      251 

Tomtits,  Uses  of,  .  .  .  .  .  211 

Trial,  Souls  for,  .  .    -  .  .137 

Troubles,  Effect  of,         .....  222 

True  Ambition,         .  .  .  .  .88 

and  False,  .....  102 

Truth  and  Error,      .  .  .  .  .  .182 

Diffusion  of,  .  .  .  .  49 

Patriotism  of,  .....      103 

Birth  of,  .  .  .  .  .  .  101 

Wholeness  of,  .....       193 

Two  Lives,  Choice  between,     ....  255 

Tyranny,      .......         20 


INDEX.  317 


PAGE 

Uses  of  Wealth,  .  .  .  .  .      44,  ]  30 

Tomtits,       .  .  .  .  .  .211 

V. 

Value  and  Price,      ......         55 

of  the  Affections,  ....  44 

Vanity,          .  .  .  .  .  .  .218 

^  and  Self-Esteern,  ....  1G 

Pride,   ......         01 

Veneration,         .  .  .  .  .  .  130 

Verse,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .211 

Blank,     .  .  .  .  .  .  253 

Vice,  Insecurity  of,  .....         25 

Short-lived,  .....  200 

Vigilance,     .  .  .  .  .  .  .130 

Virtue,    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  293 

Conventional,  .....      207 

Female,  .....  197 

Surface,         .  .  .  .  .     '        .        71 

Virtues,  ......  24 

and  Passions,  .....      207 

Crude,    ......  210 

Vision,  the  Soul's,     .  .  .  .  .  .170 

"Vive  memor  Lethe,"    .....  1GG 

Voltaire,        .  .  .  .  .  .  .       l(Ju 

Voluntaries,        ......  90 

Vox  Populi,  ......         07 


318 


INDEX. 


w. 


Wants  and  Necessities, 
Washington,        .  „ 

Wayside  Thorns, 
Wealth,  .  '. 

a  Danger,    . 

and  Poverty,     . 

Uses  of, 
Weapon, 
Weapons,     . 
Weather,  Dull,  . 
Weights,  Dead, 
What  for  Dinner1? 
Wholeness  of  Truth, 
Wife,  The  Good, 
Will, 

and  Faith, 
and  Mood, 
Wings,  . 
Wisdom, 

Proof  of  Senatorial, 
Witnesses  against  us, 
Woe,      . 
Woman, 
Woman's  Favor, 
World,  Men  of  the, 
Worship, 
Wrong  and  Right,    . 


PAGE 

.      217 

109 

.       173 

19,  169,  277 

.      275 

38 

44,  13G 

243 

.      271 

198 

.      234 
189 

.       193 
240 

121,  239 
44 
GO 
26 

.       163 
238 

.       216 
127 

173,  291 
174 

.       177 

,  291 

277 


Young  and  Old, 

Youth,  . 

and  Age, 
Errors  of, 


INDEX. 
Y. 


319 


PAGE 
197 

76 
289 

71 


Zeal, 


210 


THE   END. 


C.    SHERMAN,     PRINTER. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


LIBRARY  USE 

SEP    5  1952 

SEP     5^W 

MAR  17 


Z003 


LD  21-95?w~ll,'50(2877sl6)476 


